Let me discuss for a moment the influences of wind on the outcome of a curling match. All games are played in indoor facilities and should be reasonably immune from gusts of wind. We have found that, in the course of a twelve game draw forty percent of the games we lost, that wind was a major factor in these losses. There can be no other explanation. The unpredictable cross winds have taken many of our rocks and shoved them off course causing them to crash into our own and remove them from scoring position.
Tides have a similar influence.
I suppose this is related to altitude but since we live in flat country I won't introduce that particular variable. Gravitational pull is determined by the phases of the moon and its position relative to the sun. We know that twenty-five percent of our games were lost due to tides. There is absolutely no question that when the moon and the sun are in alignment, nothing reaches the other end of the ice or contrarily, it gets there too quickly and keeps on going. It is very clear that the pull of the moon and sun in concert has forced our accurately and skilfully thrown rocks to either fall short of the target or pass it by on its way to the end boards.