Midnight Ride

"Hello, Cal? I think this is it. This is the night"

"What are you talking about?"

"Are you up for our first Moonlight Boogie?"

"Hey, yeah, OK! Let's go!"

It is about 10:00 PM. I drive to Cal's and we load his body board, fins, wetsuit, and other gear into my van and head for Grand View. It is a beautiful, warm summer night and the moon is almost full. We chose Grand View because there is decent street parking, a good lighting, and no placards against nighttime parking. Not to mention that we are familiar enough with the break to work it blindfolded.

Our spirits are high with the excitement of a new adventure. Sure that riding waves by moonlight is possible, we are on our way to prove it. I picked up a couple of chemical light sticks and attached them to necklaces of strong cord for us to wear.

I park the van under a streetlight. We suit up, secure the van, and head down the long staircase. The Pacific is magnificent! A firefly flicker of millions of wavelets reflecting the full moon glitters in our eyes. At the bottom of the stairs we don our fins and frog-walk into the surf.

Without sunlight and blue sky, the water feels colder than usual, but in our anticipation we scarcely notice. I paddle out with some trepidation. It is really hard to see incoming waves, and I duck-dive by sheer instinct. Cal is visible a short ways over as a shadowy figure with a bright green glow nearby in the water.

Finally we are past the strike zone, and I set about trying to catch a wave. I miss several in the attempt. Finally a dark swell approaches and I go for it. More by faith than sight, I am suddenly lifted up and swooping down and to the right. The moonlight is not bright enough to show the finely detailed surface of the water, only inches from my eyes, and so years of experience take over and I ride by sheer feel.

I am quite surprised at the sensation; there is not much feeling of speed. Rather, I find myself suspended, hovering between the depths and the sky, making fine adjustments in trim and balance by pure instinct. How exhilarating!

Laughing with glee, I start to paddle back out. In front of me, I see Cal kick into a wave and watch his glow-stick streak across the face in front of me.

After many more rides, exhausted but happy, we drive home with plenty of talk about how different and special this has been. Definitely worth repeating! Moonlight on the water fills my dreams tonight!