World Cup fans make a big splash at Haulover Sandbar

Jim Rassol / Sun Sentinel

Over 3,000 people gathered along the Haulover sand bar located, west of Haulover Beach State Park in the Intracoastal Waterway to watch the World Cup quarter-final matches that were broadcasted from a 46-foot long floating screen. July 7, 2018. Staff Photo by Jim Rassol.

Jim Rassol / Sun Sentinel

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By Anne Geggis, Jim Rassol and Phillip Valys | pvalys@sunsentinel.com | South Florida Sun Sentinel

UPDATED: November 29, 2018 at 3:01 a.m.

About 3,000 boaters and paddleboarders gathered at the Haulover Sandbar to watch England play Sweden and Russia take on Croatia in the final quarterfinal matches of the 2018 World Cup.

The games were broadcast on a 46-foot-long screen aboard a 58-foot boat named Ballyhoo.

The tides cooperated — yielding a sandbar that was about the size of two football fields where spectators could wade in water that ranged from ankle-high to waist-deep.

Vendors offered smoothies and sandwiches. A pizza delivery dude was bringing the goods in a kayak.

Sun Sentinel photographer Jim Rassol said that the first-ever presentation of the World Cup in a venue like this was his Florida dream come true.

“It was its own country,” he said of the gathering about a 5-minute paddle from the mainland, Haulover State Park, “the country of awesomeness.”

Time was up when the water started to reach his chest, threatening his photography equipment. He lashed the dry bags holding his cameras down on the paddleboard and made his way back to the parking lot.

The party was presented by outdoor advertising company Ballyhoo Media.

Click here for a list of top places to watch the remaining World Cup matches in Fort Lauderdale, Miami and elsewhere.

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Originally Published: July 7, 2018 at 6:30 p.m.

World Cup fans make a big splash at Haulover…

World Cup fans make a big splash at Haulover Sandbar | Photos

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