Nocturnal Surfing

General Discussion
1

Just got back in at 11:20pm from a night surf in 15.6°C (~60°F) water, with only boardies. It was magnificent! Clear starry skies, no wind, peacefull night.

All I can say is … STOKED!!!

Spent the first few minutes sitting in the car with a mate thinking, this is puss, and there is 4 bodyboarders out already. Too cold, no waves, want to go to bed.

Mate drags me into the surf saying no no, they will leave and the swell will pick up.

It’s ridiculous how it always happens, but it went just like he said.

Ended up having a great session with around shoulder high , clean, peeling waves, only me and a mate out.

I love the night surfing. So peacefull, calm, and eerie. The only thing that freaks me out is we have a light at the end of the groyne/pier, and it casts dodgey shadows in amongst the water… needless to say i have no shame in saying i’ve shat my boardies countless times. But honestly some of the best shape waves all year round, in Perth anyways.

I just wanna know how many other people have a break they surf at night? Or how many people actually go surfing at night?.

Here are some pics of the break:

Shit, thats freaky, I just noticed the photo above was on the exact same day last year… anyways, this is a pretty smallish day, doesn’t get much bigger than that in summer time… but one thing to pay attention to is the sign on the beach, in relation to the water…

These are two pics of the heavy days in winter storms… that sign creeps closer and closer to the water… bet it’s dying for a surf.

Definately a fan of the nocturnal surfing…

L

Surfing absolutely counts as breakfast.

2

Ahhhhhhhh… The ol’ night surfs… We used to surf at night pretty often. Haleiwa, Chuns, Ehukai etc… We started out going on the full moon nights then eventually surfed no moon… Our biggest obstacle was trying not to run over each other! I know guys in town surf around the clock when its good. Plenty lights down there. I’m talking crowded nights! After we started getting a lot of Tiger shark attacks around our home spots we stopped. It is peaceful and cool!! It seems your senses go into another level… Ultra awareness…

Another cool night time thing is trail riding on my dirt bike deep in the mountains alone or with a couple friends. Same cool feeling cruising around in the boonies in tight gnarly trails… Senses on overload… Night owls score fun stuff…

3

lavz,

If you renamed this thread “Nocturnal Wetness”, more people would check it out. Just a thought.

4

I’ve only been out a cowells at night, nothing over waist high. It makes everything feel soooo smooth with a little extra sensory deprivation. I’m usually pretty good at counting and keeping track of the number of other people in the water though, since there have been some close calls with big boards.

pat

5
Quote:
I know guys in town surf around the clock when its good. Plenty lights down there. I'm talking crowded nights!

Full moon nights are just as crowded as the days.

6

I use to surf HB peir all the time… plenty of light from the pier.

First time at Rincon was full moon @ midnight… thoght i’d be all alone… ha! a dozen guys out, did that lots of time. I was always struck by the moon before it was “over” the waves - easier to see the waves when riding, but after it passed over head easier to see the sets coming…

also surf some perfect beach set ups into the dark w/beach house lights twinkling in the face, felt like surfin in space.

7

I’ve never done it,but think about it all the time. Full moon with one of those water proof spelunking head mounted lights. Mike

8

I usually surf the dawn patrol, but when conditions are good or dawn gets late during the winter, I find myself surfing in the near dark pretty often

I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than a moonlight session during a red tide. The way the flourescence lights up as the waves break, in your wake, and the eddys of light peeling off your hands as you paddle is surreal.

Matt

9

i remember some bodyboarding i did right after the sunset it had just gotten black, pitch black and my spidey senses told me i was beign tugged at by a wave so i whipped around and paddled into, ended up getting a really deep smooth barrel, inside the avbailble light would get all refllected and it was awesome.Riding in the dark is like training blindfolded. I was quite good in the barrel on a sponge(not trying to brag). I would often surprise myself, thinking i would never make the section and closing my eyes and get ready to pull out then from nowhere just feel some acceleration and see the wave open a hair and fly out. Anyone remember Coming of theDawn in Greenough’s Innermost Limits? I wanna ride in Phosporesence, like GG would do at rincon back in the 60’s(Renny Yater article in TSJ).

10
Quote:

I’ve never done it,but think about it all the time. Full moon with one of those water proof spelunking head mounted lights. Mike

We tried a bunch of different lights and none worked. They do weird things like light up the spray and mist so you just get blinded and can’t see anything but white right in front of you. Street lights, building lights or the best is the full moon light without flashlights… We even surfed no moon darkness. That was a trip! Too dark though…

11

night surfing is evil. Don’t do it. The sharks will eat you. And you can’t see when you get tubed…

12

Surfed town ALOT at night. Bowls is pretty tough to see at night lots of times you can only see the spray at the top of the cresting wave. Queens is good at night with all the waikiki street and hotel lights. Pupukea used to have a house on the beach that had spotlights that lit up the water like a swimming pool…

Boys at Makaha usually surf at midninght on new years eve with all the cars on the beach with the headlights on to catch the first wave of the new year.

Ive also surfed the pier at Huntington beach at night.

13
Quote:

I usually surf the dawn patrol, but when conditions are good or dawn gets late during the winter, I find myself surfing in the near dark pretty often

I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than a moonlight session during a red tide. The way the flourescence lights up as the waves break, in your wake, and the eddys of light peeling off your hands as you paddle is surreal.

Matt

yeahhh dude that’s so fun…I went for every day like a week this summer down in mexico, the red tide was so thick you couldn’t see your feet standing in like ankle deep water but it was SOOO glowy, come up from a duckdive and you can see your outline in green… unreal…

14

Howzit TaylorO, I remember surfing H.B.pier at night back in the late sixties. The strange part was when you surfed towards the pier you could see the whole wave but surfing away from the pier you couldn’t see what was ahead of you. The best part was it was fairly uncrowded and fun.Aloha,Kokua

15

You have never night surfed until you you go out on a mat with your three closest friends on perfect point break surf. The feeling of flying and skimming along a waves surface being guided by the moon and your senses. Wow what a cool sensation, dying to get after it again.

z

16

Hey Lavz -

Here’s a couple of tips.

Don’t look directly at any lights. Keep those pupils wide open. Try closing your eyes between sets so when you open them, things seem brighter.

Get a tube ride when the red tide/phosphorescence is doing it’s thing… maybe not a good idea on East Coast? The glowing electric tunnel has to be experienced to be believed.

Drag your hand in the face and watch sparks fly from your fingertips.

I’m not kidding. That glow-in-the-dark stuff is wild.

17

Hey John,

Yeah I imagine the phosfluresence would be amazing to watch… I don’t think that happens here in Perth though.

Would be amazing though.

L

18

there’s been a few after dark missions but my favourite: a few years ago, 11pm to 2am, full moon, midwinter, three friends, jacked up on coffee & hot chocolate, overhead swell bowling across a (normally obscenely crowded) local rockshelf, dry-hair paddleouts, take-off spot marked by a nice easy to read boil, standup barrels & hooting & giggling & screaming in the middle of the night. one tube in particular is etched forever in the library of memory: big old full moon & sharp hard winter stars being framed by the curl, itself a spinning mesmerising circle of quicksilver, long, long seconds of bliss. as i exited off the shoulder & drifted down into the black back of the wave to paddle out, all goosebumped & mindblown, i could not speak for wonder.

the next day of course it was once again hideously overcrowded. we walked away, for once, smiling. we never told a soul.

19

WHAT is a “red tide” ??!!

pollution ?

red seaweed ?

ben

20

Red tide is caused by tiny organisms, some of which emit phosphorescence when disturbed. It can be toxic and has been linked to various maladies in humans. It appears as a red tint in the water during daylight hours.

Sailors, canoists or kayakers who have paddled or sailed through the stuff at night may have seen it as “sparkles” off the rudder, hulls or paddles.

Running backwards across wet sand at night while dragging your feet will sometimes elicit numerous flashes of sparkle trails if there is a red tide in effect. Rubbing the wet sand with your hand may have a similar effect.

One night during a very dense red tide, we went out and had a blast. I poured a bucket of the water over my son’s head and he appeared as a glowing statue. Throwing buckets of the water at a cliff face was like watching a fireworks show. Wading out and having splash fights was too weird to describe. Think “Star Wars” special effects.