Saturday, April 1st was one helluva of day in the Charleston area. A ton of out of towners were visiting for several area events. Most notably, the annual Cooper River Bridge Run was happening, with approx 27,000 people taking part. The Credit One Championship Women's Pro Tennis event was getting under way. And other events and festivals were happening all over town and the surrounding area.
But for the Charleston Ocean Athletes, it was a day long anticipated that week thanks to a favorable forecast for the prevailing warm southwest winds and low level jetting (meaning the warm southwest wind over the cold ocean water wouldn't cause fog and light wind). It meant that spring was really finally here, the "third winter" was behind us, the pollen invasion was about done, the water was warming up and the winter marine layering was almost finished. This meant the beaches were finally going to get some consistent wind! Everyone was just hoping this wouldn't be some cruel April fools joke, whereby the forecast would fall through and leave everyone crying the blues on the sand.
Alas, the forecast proved out and we got consistent SW wind all day in the 22-27 mph range across all the beaches, along with 3-4 ft waves to play in. Yours truly got out to windsurf at Isle of Palms for a good bit, enjoying the action on the water with five other windsurfers and a couple of kitesurfers. Then I got behind the camera and roamed around Isle of Palms between 6th Ave and 3rd Ave, and then Station 28.5 at Sullivan's Island. There was big air, wave carving, and just plain good old speed. What a great day it was for everyone, ala the April Fools.
I hope you enjoy the video below (play it in HD full screen and turn up the sound!), plus all the photos below that.
~ Mac ~
If able, play in full screen HD and turn it up. Charleston Ocean Athletes featured in the video include (in alphabetical order): Mac Barnhardt, Chris Busacca, Peter Hess, Scott Hyland, Bart Liebmann, David Schar, Trey Sedalik, Scott West, among several others.
Video & editing by Mac Barnhardt
GoPro POV footage by Bart Liebmann & Scott West
All photos below by Mac Barnhardt
Dave Cavanaugh bottom turning into a juicy wave
Dave Cavanaugh throwing buckets
Scott West bottom turning back into the wave
Bart Liebmann wavesailing
Peter Hess just ahead of the froth
Dave Cavanaugh eyeing the wave
Dave Cavanaugh carving it up
Looking south towards 3rd Avenue & Sullivan's Island
unidentified sending it at 3rd Avenue
Chris Geganto big air
Alli Lehr taking advantage of the conditions
Trey Sedalik in the shallows
Gerrit Neve on the wing foil
Bobby Funcik airing it out
Jonn Meyers carving out a path
a familiar sight along our coast
Trey Sedalik mid-flight board grab
Welcome To The Jungle
Chris Busacca speed sailing on the inside
David Schar throwing spray
Scott Hyland inverted
unidentified going for the mid-air board grab
unidentified enjoying the big day
Chris Busacca off the lip
unidentified chopping it up
unidentified sending it
Scott Hyland of Sealand Sports was on the loose
Chris Busacca was finding ramps all over the place
unidentified mid-flight
David Schar looking for a landing spot
Scott Hyland board sliding