Coastal Companion

Your ultimate guide to the coast

The Cecil Field Airshow 2009 in Jacksonville

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Based on the number of scheduled performer, this The Cecil Field Airshow 2009 is turning out to be the biggest airshow in the country. So if you love planes, flying and exciting performances – this is a show you can’t miss.

Here you’ll experience everything skydivers to wing-walkers and military tactical demonstration to simulated aerial dogfights.There are 35 aerobatic performers (yes, thirty-five!)scheduled to participate in the air show. Performances take place on both Saturday and Sunday. This will be a truly unique event and an memorable experience for the whole family.

Earth Day Festival on April 18 in Charleston

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Celebrate Earth Day Charleston-style with a celebration of Charleston county’s environmental community. This is always a popular festival, last year over 7,000 people attended the Earth Day Festival. You can learn about green living, how to compost, alternative energy, recycling, organic agriculture, see a recycled fashion show and much more.

There will be over 70 educational displays and a variety of environmental activities focusing on things such as green energy, green building, animals and habitat preservation, litter, water, seedlings and compost.

The Earth Day Festival in Charleston will take place from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Park Circle in North Charleston
Green Leaves

East Coast Canoe and Kayak Festival 2009

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(Charleston, SC) James Island County Park will host the 19th Annual East Coast Canoe & Kayak Festival, April 17-19, 2009. One of the premier paddlesport events on the Atlantic Coast, the festival is a full-weekend immersed in the technique, hands-on experience,>history, and fun of canoeing and kayaking.

kayak festival in charlestonEach year E.C.C.K.F. brings together paddling enthusiasts of all levels with world-renowned instructors and equipment manufacturers. The action-packed festival features a multitude of on-water classes, lectures, and demonstrations directed to the novice as well as the experienced paddler. Plus over 40 commercial exhibitors will be on-hand to give you a chance to try the latest equipment before you buy.

The heart of the festival is the simultaneous running of four classrooms throughout the three-day event. You can meet and learn from the following experts, Nigel Foster, Cathy Piffath, Christopher Stec, Jeff Cooper, Ken Fink, Karen Knight, Dubside, Ben Lawry, Steve Scherrer, and Russell Farrow, as well as other knowledgeable paddlesport enthusiasts. A wide variety of topics include slide shows of exotic paddling locations, how-to sessions on navigation, selecting or repairing equipment, safety, and preparing gourmet cuisine fresh from your dry bag.

Kayak Festival CharlestonThe 2009 festival kicks off Friday with classes, workshops, and boat demonstrations. Join keynote speaker Russell Farrow for the opening barbecue dinner and social. Russell will present an exciting multimedia presentation of his six-week kayaking trip to Canadian High Arctic on the north end of Baffin Island (600 miles north of the Arctic Circle).

Children are also welcome to the festival and are free with a paying adult. Learn how to paddle as a family in our clinics, or register your young paddlers in the full and ½ day canoe and kayak camps (ages 6-12) featuring hands-on sessions, cardboard canoe races, nature walks, crafts, and more.

Make plans now to participate in this exciting event! Come meet your paddling peers throughout the weekend and enjoy food, beverages, music and of course, canoeing and kayaking!

For more information, a daily festival schedule, and to register, call (843) 795-4FUN or visit our website at www.ccprc.com/ecckf.
Kayak Festival Charleston

EPA’s Flagship Comes To Savannah, Georgia

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(ATLANTA – APRIL 3, 2009) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Ocean Survey Vessel (OSV) BOLD will make its first appearance in Savannah, Ga., next week. EPA’s 224-foot research flagship will be docked at the Savannah Riverfront and will be open to the public. Free public tours will be conducted Apr. 9 and 10 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. by the U.S. EPA, the University of Georgia Marine Extension Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The OSV BOLD is equipped with state-of-the art sampling, mapping, and analysis equipment including side scan sonar, underwater video, water sampling instruments, and sediment sampling devices, which scientists use in various monitoring activities.

The vessel is a converted U.S. Navy T-AGOS class vessel and is 224 feet long and 43 feet wide. EPA acquired the OSV BOLD on Mar. 31, 2004. The ship, its crew and EPA scientists collect water quality and sediment samples, fish, and other organisms in the Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.

During its tour of duty in the area, the OSV BOLD will be used to:

Monitor ocean dredged material disposal sites in the southeast at four sites, including Savannah, Ga., Jacksonville and Tampa, Fl., and Mobile, Ala.;
Conduct coral reef monitoring in the Dry Tortugas National Park and the surrounding Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary; and
Investigate the ecological impact of an invasive coral species, Tubastraea coccinea, which may pose a threat to the health and biodiversity of Florida, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico reef ecosystems.

The EPA deploys the OSV Bold on numerous scientific surveys each year. The OSV Bold supports EPA’s efforts to monitor and assess impacts on ocean and coastal waters from land- and ocean-based human activities and naturally occurring ecological disturbances. EPA began using the 224-foot OSV Bold as a research vessel in 2005 to perform extensive marine surveys along the Atlantic Coast and Gulf of Mexico. In 2008, the ship visited the Pacific Coast for the first time. It has returned to the east coast and will begin survey activities in the Southeast in April.

For additional information about the OSV Bold, visit www.epa.gov/bold

Jazz Appreciation Month Concert – Savannah, Georgia

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The Coastal Jazz Association of Savannah
Jazz Appreciation Month Concert

Rite of Swing
The Annual Duke Ellington Concert Featuring The Savannah Jazz Orchestra w/ Saxophonist Mark Sterbank on Sunday, April 19, 2009, 5:00 p.m.

The Coastal Jazz Association of Savannah presents a tribute to Duke Ellington on Sunday, April 19, 2009 which will feature special guest saxophonist, Mark Sterbank.

This event will be celebrating the legacy left by one of America’s greatest musicians/composers for what would have been his 110th birthday (born April 29, 1899).

Every year The Savannah Jazz Orchestra, under the co-leadership of Teddy Adams and Randy Reese, features both unfamiliar compositions and special guest artists as a part of enhancing the genius of every Ellington concert. This will be CJA’s 23rd year paying tribute to Mr. Ellington.

Special guest: Saxophonist Mark Sterbank is Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies and saxophone instructor at Charleston Southern University. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, where he received the coveted Performer’s Certificate and a Master of Music degree from the University of New Orleans, where he also studied with pianist Ellis Marsalis under a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts.

His credits include performances with Fred Wesley, Mary Wilson, the Darius Rucker Big Band, the Charleston and Savannah Symphonies, a national tour with the Harry Connick, Jr. Orchestra, and performances with Nicholas Payton, Brian Blade, Eartha Kitt, and the Temptations. Mark currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina.

Those in attendance will also bear witness to Priscilla Albergottie Williams, who is the featured vocalist for the Savannah Jazz Orchestra. Ms. Albergottie Williams, one of the finest vocalists in this area, has been performing both church and secular music and does them in superb equilibrium. She performed with trombonist, Teddy Adams, for years and was the featured vocalist with the Savannah Jazz Orchestra. She can be heard on SJO: live recording “Satin Doll”, the music of Duke Ellington and Johnny Mercer.

This special concert will be held on Sunday, April 19, 2009, 5:00 p.m. at the Armstrong Atlantic State University “Fine Arts Auditorium”

It is free and open to the public and is presented by The Coastal Jazz Association through a generous grant from the City of Savannah Department of Cultural Affairs.

For more information call 912-675-5419 or go to www.coastal-jazz.org