Photo: Nathan Florence // YouTube
A man, a plan, a wave – Panama. It’s not quite a palindrome, but it is the basis of the latest video from freesurfer Nathan Florence. In it, he visits the Panamanian wave known as Silverbacks. Florence calls it Panama’s craziest wave, and it’s hard to argue against him.
Nathan’s 2025 slab tour started not long ago, when the official end of the Hawaiian winter freed Florence and company up to once again roam the world in search of board-breaking monsters. The first stop was a trip to Chile’s “The Thing,” where difficult conditions yielded what could have been a record-setting ride. According to Florence, they were the first to surf the wave standing up. His brother Ivan also scored what may have been the ride of his life.
Since then, they’ve departed the shores of Chile for greener pastures in Panama. Before the journey began, Nathan described just how hard it would be to score at Silverbacks. “These swells are notorious for changing a ton, but hopefully we hit our next stop on the slab tour and score some of what this place has to offer,” he explained. “This place is notoriously fickle, so we’re just hoping it’s breaking and doing its thing out there. We hope it’s on but it could easily not be on. We’ll see.”
In the end they scored, but not without experiencing that pain and frustration first hand. “This wave is so intimidating, so shifty,” said Florence afterwards. “Basically the swell comes with a storm and so you’re on a reef that has a one-foot takeoff that shifts around this big (area). A normal slab is in the same spot every time – this wave is constantly moving and shifting. You’re chasing a very narrow takeoff area, because the waves are big wedges, but all over this reef. It makes it super challenging to get a good wave.”
