My friend and neighbor just sent me this and I though I'd share it with you, because it's just too beautiful to keep it to myself...
This is an account of his surf session last night by the moonlight in Malibu. I feel so sad I'm out of shape and my arms couldn't take the abuse of paddling in this heavy surf, otherwise I would have been out with him. I might still go there tonight and watch from the shore...
Let's swim to the moon, uh huh
Let's climb through the tide
Penetrate the evenin' that the
City sleeps to hide
Let's swim out tonight, love
It's our turn to try
Parked beside the ocean
On our moonlight drive*
Surfing by moonlight is always a special life experience.
Malibu Beach becomes an exotic silver stretch of sand. The immensely large radius of the Santa Monica Bay curving in the distance outlined by the sparkling city lights…the demarcation of a city of 10 million juxtaposed against the black sea. This evening though, no crowds of tourists/surfers/inlanders, no wind, no birds….nothing like the daytime Malibu Beach..... tonight….just….waves!
Let's swim to the moon, uh huh
Let's climb through the tide
Surrender to the waiting worlds
That lap against our side*
A solid South swell…energy generated a week ago off New Zealand and traveling about 500 miles per day….has arrived for SoCal surfers to enjoy. It’s been building up for a day…up to 6-8 ft faces now….predicted to be 2x that in the next 24 hours. I surfed this afternoon and it was a powerfully punchy and fun swell. Oh yeah. When I got back to the office I noticed that this evening would be very close to a full moon.
Hmmmm…..full moon…..full moon. A quick check of the tide chart showed optimum conditions for Malibu at around 11:00pm. HMMMMMM!!!!! Yeah….I’m all over that.
It’s hard to put into words what it’s like to surf…and surfing by moonlight…well, that’s pretty much impossible to describe accurately. Certainly I’m not the best man for that job. Day or night, surfing is always an adventure. One never knows what will be served up…that’s part of the experience, the unknown. Sometimes sloppy, weak waves, sometimes none…sometimes the best wave of your life is out there…a powerful, looming, moving wall of water with any number of athletic and sensory challenges that aren’t apparent until a mere second before you’re on it and then vanishes forever immediately behind you. A completely natural, boiling, roiling, high powered formation that somehow feels nearly alive…like a dragon’s tail being slowly and deliberately whipped. The power…the power!….combined with the fluidity of the “structure”. It feels like you’re cupped in a huge, immensely strong, unseen hand. It’s a combination for the senses that’s very, very close to narcotic.
Come on, baby, gonna take a little ride
Down, down by the ocean side
Gonna get real close
Get real tight
Baby gonna drown tonight
Goin' down, down, down*
And at night….especially last night….it was even more beautiful. A “red tide”, a major red tide, has been surrounding LA for the last few weeks. By day the water, blushed by red plankton, looks extremely dirty and murky. But at night, those same plankton phosphoresce. Last night, incredible phosphoresce! Every wave that broke looked like a lightening storm; every stroke in the water was ablaze with light following my arm for 2 ft behind it. The wake breaking off the nose of the surfboard was dazzlingly, nearly blindingly bright. The entire surfing nightscape was surreal with moonbeams and the green-glow of crashing surf. As I sat on the board waiting for a set wave, I could see small, bright streaks of green light in the dark water as anchovies and other small fishes darted around me and beneath me. (Yes, it did occasionally occur to me to look for the 12-15+ ft streak of light coming towards me, once or twice). What a scene…what an unforgettable scene!
Just had to write something while it was still vivid in my mind.
Easy, I love you
As I watch you glide
Falling through wet forests
On our
moonlight drive, baby
Moonlight drive*
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