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
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