It's been a slow summer. Some of us have been lucky enough to get out in the occasional breeze with large sails or long boards but, by and large, it has been quiet. When it's quiet, we have way too much time on our hands and, instead of getting out on the equipment we have, we spend hours reading web pages about places we will never go and justify purchasing equipment we'd use if we ever got there - which we won't. Not the least because we've spent our money on gear that will get wet maybe three times in the next decade.

How bad is the summer? Even youtube knows it's pretty bad.

Recommended for us? Thanks, youtube. Now you are just being mean.

While we desperately try to find a way to pay for this gear, we thought you might enjoy the following tidbits.

We love trolling Craig's List for windsurfing gear. Once every five years we come across something worthwhile. The rest of the time, we realize that along with cockroaches the only other thing to survive a nuclear war will be crappy, heavy plastic boards from 1986. Craigs List has an endless supply of them. If we could convert them to biofuel, we could drive our windsurfmobiles to Hatteras every weekend.

The descriptions are humorous as are the asking prices. This board, however, really caught our interest. It's an old Mistral with a decidedly unique set of graphics. According to our CSI: Flowery Branch lab, the graphics appear to be from Michelins on a late model SUV or light truck. But, until we get the DNA test, that's only a preliminary finding.

We can't identify the model, though. It's not a Pandera, nor a Competition. Maybe, it's the Mistral Possum.

We were going to show a picture of a possum who had the same set of graphics as the board but then thought better of it.

Whatever bad things we say about old boards, we must admit they hold up pretty well in traffic. Try that with your fancy pants wide-style modern board.

Meanwhile in Britain:

We're glad someone is having fun this summer. #mylifesucks
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Lots of wind and waves. What could go wrong?

Being in cold water just makes it worse.

We wrote recently about how bad the forecast has gotten this summer. We stare day after day at the forecast in hopes of some wind and see nothing to give us hope. Eventually, we stare so long that like ship wreck survivors in a life raft, we begin to hallucinate. The other day we saw this forecast.

We stared long an hard hoping to see dots but nothing was there. But, we did see something. Something familiar.

Which reminded us of this:

But it did not remind us of this:

This requires wind of which, even in our deranged, becalmed state, we can't imagine.

One of the things we love about NASCAR is "swapping paint". Contact on the racetrack is part and parcel of the sport: aggressive driving, more than a few wrecks; and retaliation and confrontations when things go badly.

Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski trade amusing anecdotes and recall jovially the day's events at Texas in 2014.

Six years ago, the PWA decided that slalom racers protesting others for rules infractions was detracting from the sport and, apart from guarding against dangerous actions, adopted a "no protest" policy. Since then, a PWA slalom race has become something any NASCAR fan could identify with. But as they say on TV, "Kids, don't try this at home."

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One thing that has made windsurfing difficult for many is getting the board from home to the lake or beach. Kiters always brag about how everything fits in the trunk (except the guy who is either helping you launch or holding on to your harness to keep you from getting lifted but, then, maybe you are in the Mafia and that guy does fit in the trunk). Inflatable boards have been a thing for a while. We had a Mistral Windglider years ago but it simply wasn't stiff enough to plane. Starboard seems to have solved that issue with their Airplane.

More info
Video in French about the design

And a musical selection suggested by Jim Crooks (NSFW lyrics)