Michel Copetta recounts his first time Dropkneeing Panama’s heaviest wave, Silverbacks. Brought to us by Erizos Surf Brand. See below for the full story:-

“When I found out about the Bocas Invitacional it was an “all in”, I had already missed the first edition, and I didn’t want it to happen again!”

“Bluff (the beach where the contest took place), is a wave that every bodyboarder would like to surf, a powerful type of slab but sand bottoms and if you blink, you end up talking to Nemo and Spongebob hahaha, actually, It was a challenge to choose the right waves for DK.”

“I went there with this wave as a the second option after silverbacks and I fell in love with it.”

“In order to drop knee big, tubular waves, you need to choose them with tweezers. Silverback is called so because of its intense offshore wind and resembles the back of a silverback gorilla. As Jeff told me “it’s the Caribbean box”, a slab that requires a lot of energy. I always dreamed of being able to connect with her. It is a wave that I always had in my sights, I knew that it will be possible to DK so that was my main goal!”

“Everything started a bit late as logistics are complicated, we set sail at about 8:00 am, one hour late, so we had little time during the first session with clean conditions. The Caribbean is very changeable in conditions (wind, rain, energy and swell direction), at one moment it was raining, the other the sun came out with a rainbow, offshore wind and then it changed in a matter of minutes to another condition.”

“When we got to the wave there were riders from all over the world who had come for the invitational contest, among them we met great bodyboarders like Jeff Hubbard and Pierre Louis Costes, it was incredible to share the session with them! And how they motivated me with their enthusiasm to see me try to dropknee it!”

“This filled me with energy to be able to achieve my goal. It was incredible !!! And the best thing is that it gave me the chance to surf it another day again. That day I was able to ride the biggest wave I could connect with at Silverback.”

“I want to thank God and my mother for protecting me and everyone with whom I shared a session and who motivated me to go for more!!!” – @michelcopetta

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