A Sky High, Wire Walking Diversion in Sarasota

Nik Wallenda does a high wire walk across US 41 in SarasotaThere are a lot of great reasons to visit Sarasota, Fla., chief among them is LexJet headquarters. There are also white sand beaches with azure waters, a temperate climate, Major League spring training, museums, top-notch restaurants, and so forth.

What also makes Sarasota unique is the unexpected. No, not hurricanes, which are actually fairly rare on the southwest coastline of Florida, but the impromptu odd events that happen here and there.

Today it was high-flying (or walking) acrobat and high-wire artist Nik Wallenda, who describes himself as King of the Wire. Wallenda wowed a crowd with a skywalk across US 41, the main drag through Sarasota.

Suspended about 180 feet in the air, Wallenda made the 500-foot-long walk from the top of a crane to an adjacent building without a tether. The wind picked up more than expected, but Wallenda made it safely across to the cheers of thousands who stopped to watch.

Our man on the scene, LexJet videographer Sean McGettigan, captured the moment in the video embedded below. Sean, by the way, also creates all the handy how-to videos you can find at our YouTube site: www.youtube.com/lexjet. Thanks Sean, and enjoy Wallenda’s daredevil walk Sean captured today…