The untold Superbank story: Nightriders!

Words by Jed Smith

Just how good was the Superbank last swell? Good enough that up to 40 people surfed it all through the night. The perfect combination of wind, sand and tide is what brought on the night stalkers.

“You’d get out there at two or three in the morning, surf til dawn then go to work,” a local veteran of 15 years worth of night surfing told Stab. “You can do that angle, which I think a lot of people lately have with low tide at 2am during that last swell.”

Asked about the experience of surfing one of the world’s great waves at night, the man, who is known only as the The Nightrider, explains: “The early days of the Superbank (were the most memorable); pretty much a machine from behind the rock all the way down past Greeny when the bank was at its best in the first three to four years. Then it started to get some holes knocked into it. Lately though, the Rainbow to Greeny stretch has had its moments, draining barrels.”

There are downsides, however.

“Sharks are out there. It’s always in the back of your mind… Not much you can do about ’em I suppose. Just stoked we’re not in Ballina or Byron.“

Surfers choosing moonlit waves over crowds has long been flirted with but the idea has never properly caught on. Christian Fletcher famously took on maxing moonlit Desert Point high on magic mushrooms. Several surfers, including Mark Mathews, Dean Morrison and Koby Abberton rolled the dice at one of the world’s heaviest waves, Cape Solander aka Ours, under floodlights. As did the Oakley team at Keramas in Bali.

The difference between night and day at the Superbank isn’t as much as you’d think. “It’s the same as daytime ey – get barrelled, try and push your turns as hard as you can, fit ’em in the right spot….lets you do what you want most of the time when the bank’s good. You’re just looking for that barrel,” he says.