Choose Charleston

A great event for a great cause will be going on March 8th, The 2nd Annual Sailing For The Future Benefit Regatta.  This gives opportunity to our Charleston youth to get involved in a great local event.  The harbor start will be at 1:00 pm but feel free to come early and get to know some of the local Charleston sailors!  The race will be followed by a reception that features a cash bar and light food and then awards.  Registration fee is $100 and will need to be completed by March 7th.  What a great event this will be!  Come out and show support everyone! 

For more information, go to CharlestonCommunitySailing.org

The South Carolina Aquarium does a fine job of portraying the natural diversity of the Palmetto State, all the way from the Blue Ridge escarpment upstate to the estuaries, beaches, and ocean way down here in the Lowcountry.

Through August, the aquarium might be your best bet for schlepping around to see some brownwater swamp. The building is air conditioned and harbors far fewer mosquitoes than the great outdoors, after all.

Of course, there being nothing like the real thing, the miles and miles of beaches between the Lowcountry and the Grand Strand are active as all get out as of late.

For beating the heat, beaches, barrier islands to kayak toward, and boating excursions all do the job well.

It was busy, busy, busy and hot, hot, hot this weekend.

Waves of heat and an occasional shower hit Folly Beach but that did not dissuade the crowds gathered for the Governor’s Cup of Surfing. The Post & Courier has a nice gallery of images from the event here.

Then, I was out late Saturday night covering the photography chores at a spectacular anniversary party.

Crowds were just beginning to fill in along Market and East Bay by the time I was heading home. Big waves of folks rolling in to party at City Bar, et cetera. It was still hot, even with the sun long gone, but the young folks of Charleston were lined up all the same ready to cut the rug, trip the light fantastic, whatever they’re calling it these days.

Me, I was the old dude lugging camera equipment up the steps of the parking garage, old bones creaking, dogs barking, ready for a few hours sleep.

This Saturday and Sunday, August 4-5, the Washout on Folly Beach will once again host the South Carolina Governor’s Cup of Surfing.

That’s two whole days of competition featuring the best of the class from all the way up and down the Easten seaboard. Wahines wade in from the Outer Banks and Menehunes migrate from Myrtle Beach to show their stuff at this top wave event.

Arrive early to catch a good parking spot.

Keep in mind that South Carolina is one of only two states with an official Governor’s Cup dedicated to the sport of surfing (the other is California). Governor Mark Sanford, well known as a champion of coastal and environmental causes, is himself an avid surfer.

So the Governor’s Cup is a point of pride for Sandlappers.

Speaking of which, the summer 2007 issue of Sandlapper: The Magazine of South Carolina features a cool article on the Governor’s Cup and the Folly Beach surf crowd, if you’re interested in some background research before you show up on the beach.

As well, the summer issue of Garden & Gun has an article on the local wahines and the July 2007 Charleston Magazine has an article on Folly Beach in its golden age (check out the sailing adventure by the ever adventurous Ida Becker in the same issue).

With the fourth annual South Carolina Governor’s Cup of Surfing only a little more than 6 weeks away, competition is heating up at the Washout on Folly Beach.

Despite less than spectacular waves this Saturday, local surfers continued to perfect their techniques and accumulate points while preparing for the Governor’s Cup and other major Eastern Surfing Association events.

Wind and water have, over time, washed much of Morris Island away. Once it had been stripped bare of vegetation during the Civil War, the sea island had no defense left against erosion.

If we, as a people, really did learn from the past, there might be a hint and a half for us in that.

Morris Island, as we all know, is where the Battle of Battery Wagner took place on July 18, 1863. The 54th Massachusetts regiment led that assault (this was the famous battle depicted in the 1989 movie Glory starring Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, and Matthew Broderick).

The memory of the soldiers who fought and died there should be sufficient reason for us to protect and preserve what is left of the island. But between over-ambitious developers and the constant action of the currents, it has been an uphill battle.

The Morris Island Lighthouse in particular is in special need of care. There was a time when a combination of structural damage and lost sand nearly put paid to the 130-plus year old monument.

Just as with anything else that we value, there is no one-time-fix or permanent remedy for Morris Island and its lighthouse. Preserving the past requires the efforts of both the present and the future.

Are we up to the challenge?