A Week on Wolfe Island

Weeks on Wolfe Island are always different. Depending on weather, and what’s going on, we never know what our time will be like. I have a BUNCH of photos from our last week on the island and I thought I’d use my next few posts to show you what one week might be like.

Some of you might know our powerboat is now gone. My dad sold it this year, and during our first week on the island we boated around the head of the island with him – into a very choppy Lake Ontario – to take it to Kingston where it was put onto a trailer to go to its new home in Muskoka.

Which leaves us with a canoe, rowboat, pedalboat, two sailboats (one that converts to a scull), and a windsurfer.

Our first three days on the island were sunny and 25 degrees, with a light, consistent wind. This is almost unheard of (the light, consistent wind). Growing up in Ottawa, my dad and I would watch for days when there would be enough wind to go sailing. On Wolfe Island we look for days when the wind is light enough to sail. I know some people love sailing in gale force winds, but not me, so much.

This light wind was especially important because my husband had decided he was going to learn to windsurf and, of course, after helping him rig the windsurfer, there was no way I wasn’t going to try too. He had watched a couple of YouTube videos, I had tried to windsurf once when I was twelve (unsuccessfully, as I couldn’t lift the sail out of the water) so, clearly, we were good to go.

First, taking a deep breath and getting the thing in the water:

Next, there was a lot of this – by both of us – between the two of us we must have pulled that sail out of the water over a hundred times:

And, finally, we both had some moments like this:

I learned that windsurfing uses pretty much every muscle in your body (maybe that lessens as you spend less time falling off and climbing back on again), and your palms get pretty sore from pulling on the uphaul rope (again, with less falling, that would get better). My husband and I would take turns with the windsurfer until we were both worn out, then we’d give the board to the boys and they’d “surf” on it.

The activity obviously had a lasting impression, because I had my birthday while I was at the cottage and these are the homemade birthday cards I received:

In addition to the windsurfing theme, you may notice Pokémon, which had a major resurgence in our house this summer …

So, we started our week on Wolfe Island with a new (sort-of) skill. More to come!