It's Not The Julian Calendar

No one keeps track of the number of times they go to the bathroom in a month, and why should they? In life, however, we all tend to keep track of something or other.

I like to keep track of the number of times that I windsurf every year, breaking it down to monthly stats. Let's look at 2013:

Month       # Windsurfs

April           1
May            8
June            4
July             4
August        8 (to Aug.16)

The beauty of keeping records is that it makes me accountable to myself and to anyone within earshot of me (typically Wendy and Julian). It seems that every year I make the proclamation that "this is the worst windsurfing year ever!" I say it every year, and I usually mean it. Of course it's unthinkable that every year is worse than the one before.

Between my annual Magdalen Islands pilgrimage and my time in New Brunswick I usually manage 40-50 days of windsurfing per year. I would like to average about 250. The fact of the matter is that I live in a place that simply is not that windy. <sigh>

If you look at the image provided, you'll see a partial picture of my August calendar. I write the letters 'WS' on the days that I windsurf. August has been spectacular so far, almost unheard of for these parts. June and July were disaster months. May was excellent.

The one stat that you don't see if wind velocity. I haven't had a single day on the Washademoak with high wind this year. Not one. That is a tragedy. It's doubly bad because when I go to the Magdalen Islands I inevitably get a lot of high wind days, and I sometimes struggle to use the smaller sails because I get so little practice at home, but I'm not complaining....or am I?

So, here's a summary of how I deal with wind:

No wind: I complain.
Light winds: I complain.
High winds: I complain.

It would make you wonder what would make me happy. It all boils down to this universal truism:

If I'm not planing, I'm complaining.

So bring on the wind, please. I'd love to see the Ian calendar filled with double-you-esses.