“You’d probably be okay,” Wylie said, indicating the windsurfing equipment next to the shore.

Right, I thought. My eyes involuntarily darted to the whitecaps on Lake Louisa. And maybe that squirrel will run down out of that tree and recite the alphabet to me.

Paul had more tact. “Maybe we’ll wait,” he said. “We should take one more lesson in easy conditions. This, uh, looks challenging to me.”

A few weeks before, Paul and I had taken a windsurfing lesson at Calema Windsurfing and Watersports, located on Merritt Island, which is a couple of hours east from where we live. We checked the place out the day before our lesson, and unbelievably, the first person we ran into was Wylie, our neighbor and old flying buddy (from hang gliding and sail planes and ultralights).

Wylie is a slender, athletic type, who is sure that everything is easy – because, after all, all things are easy for him. He can fly anything with wings – a hang glider, an RC, a sail plane, a crop duster or a trike. Further, if it can be flown upside down, looped, or spun, you can bet he has done it. He performs tricks on motorcycles. He surfs. It turns out he windsurfs, too.

It came as no great surprise he windsurfs well. Although he described himself as “an intermediate,” he appeared pretty hot to us, ripping across the water at mach 90 and looking perfectly balanced.

Before Paul and I headed off to our hotel, he told us to call him after our lesson the next day. He said he windsurfs on a few of the lakes near our home, and he’d love for us to join him the next time he went out. He even said he had extra equipment he could loan us.

Our lesson at Calema went well. Due to the forgiving boards, the saint-like patience of our instructor, and the ideal nature of the Banana River (only chest deep, land surrounding it, no surf, and smooth wind), by the end of our lesson Paul and I were able to sail and turn our windsurfers. Okay, so I looked about as coordinated as a three legged fish. I could do it. (It’s fun – you should try it.)

We eagerly reported to back our progress to Wylie, and just several days later, we agreed to meet him at Lake Louisa State Park, just seven miles south of Clermont. He carted equipment out to the shore for us, but after one glance at the conditions – gusty winds, rough water, unfamiliar equipment -- Paul and I decided it might be nice to live to see dinner and opted for a nice bike ride around the park instead.

I took a few pictures of Wylie and he taught us a little more about windsurfing. Give us a few more weeks (or a year or two…) and we can join him on the lake! He looked like he had a blast, letting his sail pick him up out of the water, rocketing over the waves.

We have explored the trails of the park on foot and by bike before. You can camp, fish, canoe, and kayak there, too, or ride your horse around more than 15 miles of trails. Some of the trails wind through the forest, and some take you through more open terrain. It’s so cheap to go it’s practically free.

We had a little excitement on the way out of the park, when we saw our first ever real-live-in-the-wild Diamondback Rattlesnake. I snapped his picture as he carved his way across the road. Yes, I used the zoom, and of course I included the picture here. He was huge, as big around as one of my thighs (no smart comments, please!), but wasn’t aggressive, and seemed happy to disappear into the brush.

It’s always interesting here!