This is by far one of the most memorable surf sessions of my entire life and probably the rest of my life.
The day before the swell had started to straighten out and the winds had turned offshore, my favorite wind direction. Late in the day it was looking very good with perfect conditions. I had ended the day with a great session until after sunset. It was looking as though if the winds and swell stayed strong, the next day was looking to be a good one. That night the winds picked up to about 25-30 mph and I could see by the full moon around midnight that the swell was staying steady and strong, a little overhead on the sets. My anticipation was running high voltage making it hard to go back to sleep but I managed to fall back until about 4am. The moon was about 1 ½ hands distance above the horizon as I got up and made my light breakfast and drank about ¾ of a gallon of water. The conditions were perfect. The winds were holding steady offshore at about 25-30 mph and the swell was even more perfect than the day before, I was stoked.
I got suited up, waxed my board and headed down top the break. The moon was full and glowing a beautiful light burnt yellowish white and it was now just about half a hands distance above the horizon s I stepped in to the ocean. I was the only one up, nobody was stirring in their camps. The eastern skies were just starting to show signs of 1st light as I eased into the ocean. I made my way out to the break watching wave after vacant wave pass me by on its way to shore. I was in complete solitude surrounded by my favorite conditions. When I was outside I just sat and watched the moon make its way to the horizon departing this side of the earth to make its way around the earth. As I watched it start to dip into the western ocean, making the sky turn beautiful shades of dark purple to lighter shades of deep blue, the sun in opposite skies to the east was producing shades of oranges, yellows to lighter blues then mixing into the deep blues from the moon. I was right inn the middle of the full moon setting and the sun rising with this beautiful crystal clear pastel rainbow sky from horizon to horizon and just me in the lineup. So I took the next perfect set wave and rode in the balance of sunrise and moon set, it felt unreal.
The day before the swell had started to straighten out and the winds had turned offshore, my favorite wind direction. Late in the day it was looking very good with perfect conditions. I had ended the day with a great session until after sunset. It was looking as though if the winds and swell stayed strong, the next day was looking to be a good one. That night the winds picked up to about 25-30 mph and I could see by the full moon around midnight that the swell was staying steady and strong, a little overhead on the sets. My anticipation was running high voltage making it hard to go back to sleep but I managed to fall back until about 4am. The moon was about 1 ½ hands distance above the horizon as I got up and made my light breakfast and drank about ¾ of a gallon of water. The conditions were perfect. The winds were holding steady offshore at about 25-30 mph and the swell was even more perfect than the day before, I was stoked.
I got suited up, waxed my board and headed down top the break. The moon was full and glowing a beautiful light burnt yellowish white and it was now just about half a hands distance above the horizon s I stepped in to the ocean. I was the only one up, nobody was stirring in their camps. The eastern skies were just starting to show signs of 1st light as I eased into the ocean. I made my way out to the break watching wave after vacant wave pass me by on its way to shore. I was in complete solitude surrounded by my favorite conditions. When I was outside I just sat and watched the moon make its way to the horizon departing this side of the earth to make its way around the earth. As I watched it start to dip into the western ocean, making the sky turn beautiful shades of dark purple to lighter shades of deep blue, the sun in opposite skies to the east was producing shades of oranges, yellows to lighter blues then mixing into the deep blues from the moon. I was right inn the middle of the full moon setting and the sun rising with this beautiful crystal clear pastel rainbow sky from horizon to horizon and just me in the lineup. So I took the next perfect set wave and rode in the balance of sunrise and moon set, it felt unreal.
I surfed for the next hour or two solo before someone finally paddled out. Most everyone came out sooner or later but the crowd was light, maybe a dozen throughout that day. The conditions held day into the evening. By the evening as the sun started to ease into the western horizon I was still in the water. It had now been 10 ½ hours of solid surf since I first stepped into the water with the moon setting. Now as the sun was just a half hand above the horizon I could see in the eastern skies the shades of dark blues and purples appearing and now I was a little blown away by what I was beginning to understand what was about to happen. I began to feel an unreal sense of the magnitude of the circumference of the earth. As the sun started to touch the western horizon, the moon which had just made a complete journey around the other side of the earth and back and was now getting ready to rise, I felt like a cosmic connection with the earth and the moon and sun. Right then as they were both about to balance on each side of the planet I asked the gods to please send me a set wave. And just then a set came, I took the 1st one and it was just overhead. As I rode it I slowly went top to bottom again and again looking from the moon to the sun, back and fourth. I couldn’t believe what had happened to me today. I was the 1st one out, I saw the moon disappear and the sun rise. I watched as I surfed all day the sun travel across the sky and then at days end I saw the sun set and the moon rise in perfect balance and rode a wave just as they were in that balance under pastel rainbow skies. I surfed until dark that day making it a solid 12 hours of pretty much non stop surf. As I touched the shoreline I felt as though I was just stepping out of a dream.
This story is not to bark about how long I surfed, it is a story to share about the moon having passed completely around the earth and the crazy coincidence about being the only one out and riding a wave at the balance of the moon set and the sunrise then duplicating it at the end of a nonstop surfing day with the moon rising and the sun setting. The chance of that ever happening again is really small especially no one out at those moments. It truly was a celestial surf session.
Beautiful!
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