Gail and I got up early and went over to the Kennedy Space Center. There we saw a Delta rocket on the launch pad ready for launch on Saturday at 7:33PM. We plan on watching. We also saw the space suttle Discovery on the launch pad in preperation for a launch on Feb 12th.

Otherwise, I did sail my 7.5 this afternoon with everyone Barrett mentioned plus one other new friend, Brian. I was able to use the Hero camera again and I have processed that video. If I get the chance I will youtube it. Video looks good.

Should be another good day on Saturday.

The homeless windsurfers where present but would not go into the water since it was a freezing 60 degrees and sunny outside. I guess they can go whenever they like so why go when it is marginal.

I will stay in Cocoa Beach one more night then head to Key West tomorrow.

We are at the La Quinta Inn. $59 per night and great motel. Good breakfast too. Tourism is off down here and no I do not plan on going to Ron John's.

Here is the forecast for Key West

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 68. Windy, with a northeast wind between 15 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 61. Breezy, with a east wind between 15 and 20 mph.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 71. East wind between 10 and 15 mph.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 64. East wind 10 to 15 mph becoming south.

M.L.King Day: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a high near 74. Breezy, with a west wind around 20 mph.

Monday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy and breezy, with a low around 61.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 68

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 71. East wind between 10 and 15 mph.

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 64. East wind 10 to 15 mph becoming south.

M.L.King Day: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a high near 74. Breezy, with a west wind around 20 mph.

Monday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly cloudy and breezy, with a low around 61.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 68

We have MORE WIND and less chance of getting SUNBURNED:

LAKE LANIER -

Sunday: Cloudy. Chance of showers or sleet in the morning... then a chance of showers in the afternoon. Highs around 40. West winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of precipitation 50 percent.

Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain and snow showers in the evening. Lows in the upper 20s. West winds 5 to 15 mph.

Martin Luther King Jr Day: Partly sunny in the morning then becoming mostly sunny. Windy. Highs in the mid 40s. West winds 15 to 25 mph.

Not too much going on yesterday, Saturday. Sunny, 68 degrees blowing 10 to 12 from the north. Pat and Jim went out on 9.5's best I have is a 7.5 so I just watched. Gail and I did another day at the KSC. Everytime someone says KSC it sounds like KFC. Kennedy Space Center.

Last night was the rocket launch. It was a Delta 4 rocket with a secret military satalite. They are all secret as you know. I am surprised that they still announce launches after Sept. 11th but they do.

Launch time was 7:30. We got take out, parked the van on the causeway and ate dinner. At 9:50 that Delta 4 took off. First you see the ground light up then you begin to see the rocket lift off. After the rocket is in the air a bit you then hear the engines. It was loud. Sky was clear, temp was 55 degrees and the wind was north at 5 to 10, perfect launch conditions, I guess.

This is the first time that Gail has seen a launch. It is my second time. My first time was here at the mid winters windsurf race and I had the opportunity to see the Space Shuttle Discovery launch at 7 am. So this launch was in daylight and the launch last night was in total darkness.

It is more like a party out on the causeway where everybody parks to watch the launch. Lots of cars, traffic, etc. If you ever come down to see a launch you might get skunked so be prepared, otherwise it is a great thing to see, especially for kids and especially after you have been at the Kennedy Space Center for the last two days learning about what is going on.

We leave this morning for Key West. A cold front is coming through on Monday so sailing should be good and we will be farther south so hopefully we will get some temperatures near 80 degrees.

I guess it is still cold at home. I haven't checked the Gainesville weather.

Later.

Got up this morning ( Monday ) and had beautiful sunrise with clear skys.

Here is what I am up against. I really don't know what to do. Maybe you can help me.

M.L.King Day: A 50 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 75. Breezy, with a west wind between 10 and 20 mph.

Tonight: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 68. Breezy, with a west wind around 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Tuesday: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 72. Windy, with a west wind between 20 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.

Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. Breezy, with a north wind around 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 61. Breezy, with a north wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Doesn't look too good does it. Maybe I should come home.

Yesterday ( Monday ) I sailed 7.5 fully powered from 3 to 5:00 directly in front of my house on a west wind. The house is set up to take advantage of East to S to West winds. Tomorrow will be North so I either have to take the jet sky which is already in the water on the dock and tow my rig out to get N wind or find a new launch site.

I am able to keep my board on the beach and my sail rigged and stowed under the house. How convienient.

Yesterday was West wind at 15 to 20. Fully powered but never over powered. Shallow water everywhere. Wore a shorty. Temp was 75 degrees. I was making 2 mile reaches.

I mounted the camera to the nose of the board, so that angle will be different from past shots. I will try to get a youtube up and operating this morning. Only problem was that I noticed the camera bouncing a lot from the chop.

Today I may try to mount the camera on the mast tip of the sail. For a shot directly looking down the mast.

Another great sunrise this morning. and the wind is blowing this morning already.

Barrett why don't we meet up with each other and sail that North wind. I can come north and you can come south and we can sail. We need to sail near a bridge somewhere to take advantage of the North wind. Call me. We can't be more than 1 hour from each other.

Tuesday was good powered on my 7.5

Wednesday was light air. 12 to 14. I tooled around for a while.

Thursday was Dead, None, No Wind, Nada, Nothing, Skunked, enough said.

Friday the call is 10 to 15 so we will see.

Sunday I leave the Keys and go to Miami Virginia Key then on Tuesday I head to Ft Desoto Park or Cocoa Beach depending on wind.

Anyone coming down on Tuesday.

This is Cocoa for Tuesday of next week ::Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 74. East northeast wind around 10 mph.

This is Tampa for Tuesday of next week: Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. Northeast wind between 6 and 8 mph.

A little long range weather forecasting there.

Friday was 10 from the east but that didn't stop me from sailing. I sailed and used the camera again. I thought I could make a video of the difference between sailing at slow speed vs high speed. I'll just bet you can't wait to see that one. I will put voice overs in it and some beach music to spice it up a little.

Saturday call is for 10 again. I will probably sail today again too and then go to the crazyness at Malory Square tonight.

If I sail today too, then I will have sailed for 6 days straigt even though I didn't plane all the time. At least I got some awesome video and Monday was a really awesome sailing day.

Virginai Key, Tampa and Cocoa Beach are not looking windy for my return trip home. Not much going on windwise.

Saturday was almost skunked, all wind just blowing 14 or less. I did sail anyway.

Did the big hoopla at Mallory Square last night. Nice sunset and the crowds were VERY small. Must be the recession. I had dinner on the warf overlooking the water and there was only one other couple there.

Oh, don't tell anybody but I smoked a cigar.

Sunday is a travel day to Florida City, and Everglades Nat'l Park, Monday is lunch at S. Beach Miami and Virginia key but doesn't look like much wind at Virginai Key. Tuesday is Alligator alley and Shark Valley then Wednesay at Tampa to jet ski at Desoto Park with a friend.

Boy did I get some really good video. I will have some good stuff for the next Christmas party.

Later Dude.

PS what is the Grashooper stuff? We have a lizard named Fred that hangs out on our sea wall. I'll bet Fred could wolf down Grasshopper in a nano second.

Forecast for Monday was little wind in Miami so Gail and I went to Shark Valley in the Everglades. This is part of Everglades National Park. We spent from 10:00 am to 5:30 there. Amazing place. they have a 2.5 hr tram ride that goes 30 miles in the swamp. After the tram ride I did the same trek on my bike. Much less noise on the bike ride. I took so many pictures of birds that I couldn't believe it. Great shots of alligators too. This is a place that you need to go to if you ever have the chance. Cost $10 to get in park and $16 to ride tram and that's it for a full day.

Today Tuesday is a good call for Miami. 18 to 24 so it is off to S. Beach this morning and sail the causeway this afternoon. I called Mike but he isn't coming down until Friday.

I may stay longer in Miami, just depends on the weather. I could easily go back to Shark Valley. My receipt is good for 7 days.