As July begins to fade into a rapidly approaching August, I think we have all begun to look forward to the coming Fall with a mixture of regret, relief, anticipation, and excitement. Enrollment in our youth camps has peaked, which hopefully means a welcome respite for our instructors from the surge of young energy that occasionally clashed with the wet weather these past few weeks. Our waterfront coordinators, on the other hand, are bracing themselves for the annual onslaught of rentals that accompanies the increased population of Burlington sailors as undergraduate students flood back into town.

No one likes to see the summer days gone; no matter how wet they have been I think we all look forward to the warm water and breezy sailing of this season every year. Still, it is a relief to think about settling back into the routine of Fall—and from the sailing perspective, September, October, and November bring some of the best winds of the year onto the lake.

I expect to see an increase in frantic energy down here as our campers begin the countdown to the beginning of the school year and rebel against the thought of it. Every year there seems to be a moment when we all realize that our long summer days are deceptively short—the impermanence of a seemingly timeless season catches us off guard.

For my part, I’ll be headed out West in September to pursue further studies, and even though September is a few short weeks away, it felt like ages until just a few days ago. I suddenly have a mile-long to do list that should have been done yesterday, but I feel motivated and invigorated thinking about the new challenges ahead.

I am sure that come next summer I will miss the mercurial Burlington weather that keeps us all firmly in our life jackets with an eye on the radar; for the moment, though, I am happily anticipating a more permanent change in the atmosphere.