FIELD NOTES: THE SLAB TOUR SCORES IN PANAMA

The Slab Tour is built on a simple idea: the pursuit—the stories that unfold when you follow swell into the unknown.

From the Atacama desert of Chile to the rain-soaked jungles of Panama, the same Airtex hoodies and utility shorts that kept the crew comfortable in the dry, sun-blasted desert became critical essentials in the thick humidity and downpours of Bocas del Toro, Panama. Our Airtex range has proven itself as the kind of gear the Slab Tour was built to validate: versatile equipment for wildly dynamic environments.

For Stop 002, Nathan and Ivan followed a rare Caribbean swell into the thick, humid jungles of Panama—where the reef slab known as Silverbacks waited with all its unpredictability.

Words by Nathan Florence

As you guys know from when we went to Chile—and the whole mission behind that—we wanted to do something new: new coastline, meet new people, surf new reefs. And it just turned into such an epic trip for us. We wanted to continue the mission.

A really rare swell came up. It was headed to a place I’d been watching for a while, a slab called Silverbacks. I’d gone there for the first time maybe ten years ago, and then I went back a few years in quick succession. This is a really special wave. Silverbacks is a really difficult wave to position at—not necessarily the hardest to ride. It’s a heavy slab. It has really heavy drops. It can definitely be difficult to ride too, but the main thing with this wave is—like most slabs—it comes in from deep water, hits a shallow ledge, and usually breaks in the same spot. But Silverbacks is tricky. It has this huge playing field. It can break at the outside corner, or it can break on the inside ledge. A small wave can hit the inside and once it breaks, it looks like a really large wave. And a set can hit the outside ledge and not necessarily turn into the biggest wave. They’re hard to hunt down, but waves like this are the ones that get you. You constantly think about them afterward. You’re always chasing after them. They make you want to come back and try again—to get the one you saw but maybe didn’t ride. Waves like that have always had a huge draw. They’re hardly ever truly maxed out and conquered. Every session, the best ones kind of go unwritten.

So Silverbacks drew us back. We stayed at Red Frog Bungalows, and Bocas del Toro is just a crazy humid area. We basically went from one of the driest places in the world—an area that gets maybe less than a teaspoon of rain annually in the Atacama Desert—to maybe one of the wettest places on Earth. Raining almost daily, and incredibly humid. Panama is insanely humid. It’s just rainforest—typical rainforest. Beautiful lush trees, plants, flowers, sloths, monkeys, crazy wildlife. But it’s one of those places where if something gets wet, it becomes incredibly difficult to get dry again. Everything is in a constant state of dampness. It was a completely different kind of adventure than Chile—and epic in its own way.

We’d used our Airtex gear in Chile. It wasn’t as cold as we thought it was going to be, so we were just chilling in our utility shorts and Airtex hoodies. Then we got to Panama, where it was hotter but on the complete opposite end of the humidity spectrum. Crazy rain squalls and just constant wetness. So all of a sudden we were in the same gear we wore in the desert—but flipped. We were in Airtex, in utility shorts, and sometimes the 2.5-layer rain shell. The good thing about how versatile those Airtex hoodies were, was that we were actually able to dry them. That became the thing—just finding something dry to wear that day. Because of the quick-drying nature of Airtex, and the airflow while you’re wearing it, you’re sweating every day. No matter what you’re doing, you’re sweating there. So being able to wear something for a full day between sessions, then hang it up and have it dry overnight—at least a little bit—compared to a normal cotton shirt, which just doesn’t dry… that was huge. It was really fun to see the versatility of some of the gear we’re making.

It makes us excited to create more stuff like that—things that have multiple uses. You bring it on a trip and think, “I’m so psyched I brought this—it’s so useful. That’s what we try to base all our gear around. When I talk to John and Ivan, we’re always asking: What comes next? How can we make this better? What can we make that has multiple uses? That works in different environments? Something that earns a spot in your bag every time—because it’s just that good? If we just focus on the essentials and keep making gear around that idea, I think we’ll keep getting better over time—for people who love coastlines and adventure and travel and surfing and all of it.

That turned into a bit of a gear rant—but back to the mission in Panama. The reason we were there was for Silverbacks. These swells are notoriously fickle. They start in the Caribbean—short-form storms with short periods—and they’re notorious for disappearing overnight. This chase was no guarantee. They never really are. And some of these places are sketchy to chase swells—you could easily, easily get skunked. You’re always going to get the Bluff—this epic, super-heavy beach break in Bocas. It’s a really fun, crazy, wedged-up, powerful little beach break. Like a mini Puerto Escondido. The drops are heavy, the barrels are hollow, and it’s just pure exhaustion—heat exhaustion—because you’re constantly moving, chasing rip currents. That one usually breaks on these swells, but Silverbacks—the diamond of Bocas del Toro—is notorious for not breaking, even when the forecast says it should. We got super lucky this trip. We surfed it twice—two days in a row. I consider that an absolute score. The first day was huge and disorganized. Just some absolutely crazy waves rolling in over the reef. We surfed it with a small crew—epic vibes in the water. East Coast guy Quentin, a 16-year-old Panamanian kid they call Mini Mike…

He was charging. So comfortable in heavy water. I love seeing that—young kids who want to push it in big waves. That’s his local slab, and he was going hard. Got some insane rides, especially for a 16-year-old. Just crazy comfort in heavy surf. We all did our best. Another friend, Juan Fisher, who we met in Puerto one time, was there too. A couple of local bodyboarders. The waves weren’t super consistent, but when they came—they were heavy. The swell was shifting a lot, but everyone got a wave, and everyone was stoked. But as always, you see the clips later and think:

“Oh my god, where was I for that one?”

That insider I thought wouldn’t break? That was the 10-foot slab. It just makes you want another shot so bad. And that kind of happened for us. We all rode some waves. We would’ve been stoked just on that—just to be in the water, to look over the ledge, feel a few lines, ride a few. We woke up the next morning just like: “Please, please give us another chance.” We got super blessed. The wind was strong again, but the swell was still there—and then it cleaned up offshore.

Between rain squalls, Zoard was filming on the boat. He had to put away his main camera and just use the Handycam because it was pouring so hard. It’s a tricky place to film. There’s a current ripping out. Scott—the local guy who runs Red Frog Bungalows—does a great job getting us into position, but he’s also driving and shooting photos. With that slab, waves get missed. Some definitely got missed. But miraculously, most of the good ones were captured. We all got better waves that day. Some barrels we were stoked on. I wouldn’t say anyone “showed up, blew up, conquered it”—that never happens at Silverbacks. But we got waves we were proud of. It wasn’t a new wave for me, but I hadn’t seen it in maybe six or seven years. To go back, score it again, and see the local talent rising—it just makes you feel super blessed and lucky. It was an epic adventure. It rained almost every day. The gear held up great. We surfed the Bluff before and after. That’s just gritty, fine sand, dumping, powerful beach break. First day, I broke the tail off my board. Got it fixed. Gave it to Mini Mike. Hopefully he gets more barreled on it than I did. Yeah—excited to see how the level keeps rising at that slab. I’ll definitely be going back. But it’s notorious.

Now we’ve hopped on another plane. In another airport hotel. Onto the next mission for Slab Tour.

The crew’s holding up well. I like to joke that I’ve been “Zooming my hostages” because sometimes they’re not as excited as I am to go on the next trip or hop on another flight. Nobody really likes flying. But a coffee in a new place—post-surf—I mean, there’s no better feeling. Sitting back, out of your comfort zone, sipping on coffee after a big dose of adrenaline in the water. Those are the moments I find myself looking forward to more and more on these trips. Just those little moments of hot coffee and excitement around the swells. Before and after. Hopefully we get that again.

We’re kind of on a run. Don’t walk away from the table when you’re on a heater.

We’re having a lot of fun. So stay tuned.

- NF 🚩