Hilton Head Island

[zach619]

I know that Hilton Head is not in the midatlantic, but I was wondering if any of you guys are familiar with the area as far as surf goes. All of my friends who go down there go there to golf. The wife and I now have a ton of family relocated there and we are going to visit there quite a bit. Her cousin and her husband who lived in SD for many years say that they still surf a lot down in HHI.

Anyone ever surf there? I looked at wanna surf and a bunch of other sites for spot info. Seems pretty standard. Shallow, sand bars. Windswell. Mush balls...

I know folly SC breaks better than the rest of the state, but on a map, Hilton Head island looks pretty open to swells. Especially in the fall. Its even exposed to steeper NE angles...

anyone have any history with that area? I'm curious. Thanks.

[GnarActually]

Thats a riot, a laugh riot. I say top 5 worst breaks on EC, and thats sayin' something. sorry to bum you out

[zach619]

Thats a riot, a laugh riot. I say top 5 worst breaks on EC, and thats sayin' something. sorry to bum you out

Since it is obviously positioned deep inside the SE armpit, but other than that what makes it so bad? The reading down there from magicseaweed (I know, not accurate) record even more wind swell etc than up in VB.

So, im just wondering, why would that particular stretch of beach be so poor compared to the remaining coastline to the north...

I just want to know why its so bad.

On paper, it says it has just as much waves as most of the E.C. (minus FL, OBX and Jerz), but the quality is pretty poor.

So do swells just miss down there? Or do the sand bars just suck?

[billabongmoney]

being going there for over 25 years once a year in june . place sucks to surf . its kind crazy because the tide goes out so far that the sand heats up and when the tide comes back in the heat escaping the sand causes waves . so throw that in with some windswell and you have a pretty ****ty wave , and it super sharky like super sharky . i always take a board just because but its never really been worth it

[zach619]

and it super sharky like super sharky .

Great. And mix on Gators and you have quite the predetor cocktail.

[zach619]

Here is a quote from Yahoo Answers about sharks in Hilton Head;

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
Hilton Head has had no recorded shark attacks except a few rare (minor) bites that occur every couple years. The main injury in the water on hilton head is caused by jellyfish or stingrays (to avoid them shuffle your feet along the sea floor). Sharks on Hilton Head consist of tiger, nurse, hammerhead, bonnet, etc. but they mainly stay far off shore. However don't go swimming at night as this is the main feeding time of dangerous predatory aquatic animals.

To sum it all up, you should be more worried about jellyfish than sharks
Source(s):
i have lived on hilton head my entire life/AP Biology student


---- So, I assumed that this kind of environment was the norm from OBX down to Florida. I thought that wilmington, Myrtle, Hilton Head all the way down to Central Floridawere afflicted with the same kind of near shore shark situation. Mostly smaller guys.
*** so my question would be, is it really any sharkier than the rest of those SE regions? Or is it just way sharkier than us Mid-Atlantic natives are used to. (Well, used to seeing actually)

Although I never like hearing the name "Tiger Shark"... The rest don't really bother me, but the tigers are never good to see out anywhere.

[schweez]

Since it is obviously positioned deep inside the SE armpit, but other than that what makes it so bad? The reading down there from magicseaweed (I know, not accurate) record even more wind swell etc than up in VB.

So, im just wondering, why would that particular stretch of beach be so poor compared to the remaining coastline to the north...

I just want to know why its so bad.

On paper, it says it has just as much waves as most of the E.C. (minus FL, OBX and Jerz), but the quality is pretty poor.

So do swells just miss down there? Or do the sand bars just suck?

look at google.maps.com in satellite view of HH. the continental shelf extends so much farther out from that break than nearly anywhere. the waves always lose lots of power traveling thru the shallower water. combined with the fact that HH is hidden in the 'armpit' make the really good days few and far between. that being said, ive caught folly beach (right up the road) pretty good:

[zach619]

look at google.maps.com in satellite view of HH. the continental shelf extends so much farther out from that break than nearly anywhere. the waves always lose lots of power traveling thru the shallower water. combined with the fact that HH is hidden in the 'armpit' make the really good days few and far between. that being said, ive caught folly beach (right up the road) pretty good:

Yeah, I could see the shallow shelf off the coast. Its just crazy, cause the shelf looks about the same the whole way up the SC/Southern NC coast. It looks like the whole region would be affected in a similar way...

With that being said, I checked the forecast/reports today. Everywhere from Wilmington to Northern Florida registered at DEAD FLAT, with nothing in the days to come... In the middle of all of those reports, was Folly. And today, it registered Folly beach at 4-5 ft with consistent wind swell.

Every beach to the north and south was flat... I mean, nothing stands out from the overhead maps, execpt for the fact that Kiawah island is right to the south, and there is a point that juds out, looking like NE swells would smack right into that little area where South Folly and Kiawah meet. It looks like local windswell and NE swell would difract into folly and create some energy, but other than that, folly looks georpahically similar to the rest...

I mean, is folly really like that? It breaks chest high when the entire state is flat??? That pretty crazy... Folly is really the only spot in S.C. that I ever hear people speak positively about....

Its a shame its like 2 hours north of Hilton Head. Nothing like a 2 hour drive to get some chest high surf! =P

[ripthegnar]

My great uncle has a house on kiawah. i've caught it good in the fall but thats the only time ive been down there

[schweez]

With that being said, I checked the forecast/reports today. Everywhere from Wilmington to Northern Florida registered at DEAD FLAT, with nothing in the days to come...

sounds about right, all the surf down in that region is pretty crummy at best