Night Surfing North Shore
Usually I put up photos to go along with my adventures, but for this one words will have to suffice. A small north swell pushed its way against Oahu's north shore this weekend. Wanting to get in on the surfing action I packed my board inside Heidi's new Toyota Echo. I was pretty surprised that the board fit inside the tiny car as well as both of us thanks to the rear seats folding forward. We sped off towards our friends' place over in Waialua, just west of the famous surfing mecca of Haleiwa.
After a neighborhood get together some of the guys broached the subject of moonlight surfing. The moon was full a few days ago, but still big and bright. Five of us grabbed boards and walked to the beach around 11pm. As we strained our eyes to see the far off breakers we noticed a couple of things. First, the waves were big enough to occasionally close off the channel we use to paddle out. Second, the moon had tucked behind some clouds, that were only getting thicker. Our group of five became a group of four. Not to be deterred I grabbed my board and with a few looks around at the group and some raised eyebrows, we hit the water running.
It was a calm night without a trace of wind. The water was glassy on the surface except for the walls of white water following the rumbling sound of the waves in to shore. With the moon still low in the sky the waves would take the form of dark shadows steadily marching in before breaking and tumbling over in a foamy white. Even with the moon behind the clouds we could see the waves forming out beyond us. Now the trick was to predict where the wave was going to break. This proved to be the hardest part.
Sometimes waves would sneak up on me. Other times I paddled hard only to have much smaller waves than I thought pass harmlessly by. And yet the other extreme, of waves slightly bigger than I anticipated, crashed down right on top of me. Luckily the waves were pretty fun sized, chest high or so. I got the hang of it after a while, or just got lucky, and chose some really fun waves to ride. Once I was up riding it seemed much more like surfing during the day.
As the group dwindled down to two I couldn't help but notice how much harder seeing the waves became as the moon got higher in the night sky. The telltale shadows disappeared. And in its place waves rose out of the glassy surface right in front of us. Years of surfing and being in the ocean helped me to stay calm and soak in the beautiful experience. I looked down at my watch, 12:00 midnight. Not a bad way to ring in another day in Hawaii.
After a neighborhood get together some of the guys broached the subject of moonlight surfing. The moon was full a few days ago, but still big and bright. Five of us grabbed boards and walked to the beach around 11pm. As we strained our eyes to see the far off breakers we noticed a couple of things. First, the waves were big enough to occasionally close off the channel we use to paddle out. Second, the moon had tucked behind some clouds, that were only getting thicker. Our group of five became a group of four. Not to be deterred I grabbed my board and with a few looks around at the group and some raised eyebrows, we hit the water running.
It was a calm night without a trace of wind. The water was glassy on the surface except for the walls of white water following the rumbling sound of the waves in to shore. With the moon still low in the sky the waves would take the form of dark shadows steadily marching in before breaking and tumbling over in a foamy white. Even with the moon behind the clouds we could see the waves forming out beyond us. Now the trick was to predict where the wave was going to break. This proved to be the hardest part.
Sometimes waves would sneak up on me. Other times I paddled hard only to have much smaller waves than I thought pass harmlessly by. And yet the other extreme, of waves slightly bigger than I anticipated, crashed down right on top of me. Luckily the waves were pretty fun sized, chest high or so. I got the hang of it after a while, or just got lucky, and chose some really fun waves to ride. Once I was up riding it seemed much more like surfing during the day.
As the group dwindled down to two I couldn't help but notice how much harder seeing the waves became as the moon got higher in the night sky. The telltale shadows disappeared. And in its place waves rose out of the glassy surface right in front of us. Years of surfing and being in the ocean helped me to stay calm and soak in the beautiful experience. I looked down at my watch, 12:00 midnight. Not a bad way to ring in another day in Hawaii.
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