So, if there was nothing on the club schedule whatsoever for the month of July and part of August, would that count as a "break" after the spring/summer? And if there was nothing on the schedule from the end of Feb. until the beginning of June, would that count as a "break" after the winter season?

Yes, I also agree with Hyslop regarding "more than one way to do it". In this case I believe I have been consistent in saying that you could either play the top teams twice, or the second teams once during your season. The choice is yours as to how you try to become a high level player. And in tournaments, you can apparently play PDA's top team in the ECNL bracket or you can play McLean's 2nd team and the teams from the bottom of the Premier League in the other brackets.

There is more than one option available. I'd be curious to see you at PDA or Surf Cup (you mentioned) as I thought you were against traveling so much. I may be wrong, it may not have been you that objected to much to the travel.