Hello Michael,
The southern exposure of the squall didn't look all that bad, that is until I got a bit closer. It was one of those small storms in a largely clear area of sea we were talking about a while back. The lightning got me checking it out in particular. I thought it might have even moved inland before I made it up that far. Then again, lightning has a way of striking a long way away from the storm front.
Thanks for the future offer of a ride, I appreciate it! This time I was doing a roundwinder or a round trip run. With the new kites and boards you can ride fairly close to the wind. Even though it was slightly SE yesterday, you can still come close to riding parallel to the shore. The south bound run does need a few tacks to keep you far enough from the beach but that isn't a big deal. It is a little more technical that normal shredding and even a bit of a challenge at times. It also gives you something to do if the winds aren't quite blasting for boosting big. This roundtrip run was only about 7 miles. I have done some in the Keys, off Islamorada that have been about 20 miles with OK winds stretching up to about 35 miles with crappy winds (I was able to make about 300 ft. upwind for each 1/2 mile tack, ouch!).
I wonder why more riders don't do roundwinders? More at:
http://fksa.org/viewtopic.php?t=830
http://fksa.org/viewtopic.php?t=901