LED Light Show Turns French Night Surfing Event Into Something Otherworldly (Photos)

There aren't a lot of after-hours surf contests where organizers wait until the sun goes down to start the action, but then there aren't a lot of events out there like the Caraïbos Surf de Nuit Anglet presented by Rip Curl . Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, oh how the times have changed since the event's initial inception ... namely the use of LED lights to brighten the lineup.

A team-style event that's as much surf contest as it is beach party, the Caraïbos Surf de Nuit Anglet features a total of six teams with two surfers from around the Euro zone on each team. Besides the music, fireworks and festival atmosphere, what makes this comp unique is the colorful LED lights that are built into the surfers' boards so that not only can fans see them in the darkened Atlantic, but the images created from the action are, shall we say, illuminating.

In the end, it was the next-generation team of Tya Zebrowski and Lukas Skinner from Team Rip Curl that took the win and hoisted the oversized paycheck. In an inspirational act of selflessness, they donated their prize money to Handi Surf, an adaptive, European-based surfing organization.

“It’s my first time at this event, and my first time ever surfing at night,” Skinner beamed after it was all done and dusted. “It was a really cool experience with all the lights and it was so fun to surf with all these incredible people and teaming up with Tya, thanks to everyone who made this happen.”

The Rip Curl crew was joined in the final by Team Billabong and Team Caraïbos. Billabong's Sam Piter had the highest scoring wave of the final, and they would have taken the win thanks to a full-throated hack from Aelan Vaast, sister of Olympic medalist Kauli Vaast , but the judges deemed it incomplete and like that, the Rip Curl crew topped the podium.

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