Wallenda crosses Fla. tightrope 200 feet over road

The Associated Press, Tuesday, January 29, 2013, 8:40am (PST)

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Famed tightrope walker Nik Wallenda crossed 200 feet over an oceanfront highway in Sarasota on a wire without a safety harness or net.

The circus performer and six-time Guinness World Record holder carried out the stunt Tuesday on a sunny but windy morning. He says there was more wind than he expected and the cables were moving "quite a bit."

The Sarasota City Commission allowed the stunt without a tether. Wallenda wore a tether for the first time last summer when he walked across Niagara Falls, because the television network that was paying for the performance insisted on it.

Wallenda started his Sarasota Skywalk at Bayfront Park. The wire ends at the Marina Tower Condominium, and part of U.S. 41 was shut down during the walk.