Coming Soon: A Night Surfing Comp At One Of The Best Waves In The World

Six or seven years ago, a clip of Aritz Aranburu getting drained at Morocco’s fabled right-hand dredger set the internet ablaze.

It wasn’t the deepest tube anyone had ever seen at Safi, but it was certainly the darkest: using military-grade stadium lighting, they had somehow managed to illuminate the North African point so thoroughly that it was surfable during the dead of night.

Since then, Saad Abid and the Royal Moroccan Surf Federation have been working to pull off one of the wildest surf contests we could imagine: the Safi Invitational, a nighttime event inviting some of the best tuberiders from all over the world to compete at pumping Safi.

After years and years of hurdles, logistical nightmares, and Covid postponements, this Friday the event will finally run, just as the country is beginning Ramadan, fasting from sun up to sun down. As the sun sets, the point will light up with some of the best tuberiders from the country and around the world flying in.

Confirmed surfers for event include Moroccan international standouts like Othmane Choufani and Soufiane Charoub, as well as Brett Barley, Mason Barnes, Anthony Walsh, Jonathan Gonzalez, as well as Laura Coviella, Lee Ann Curren, Hanna Scott, and more.

There will be a livestream of the event on Friday starting around 8pm local time (that’s 4 pm EST, 1 pm PST, 6 am AEST), and we’ll be on the ground filming for a new season of Stab and Red Bull’s travel show No Contest.

Stay tuned.