Santa Catalina’s perfect, long and hollow 6 to 10 foot waves marked a great start of the Panama ISA World Masters Surfing Championship. The best Master surfers from 21 countries finally wore the competition jerseys and started moving in the track that leads to the gold medal and a World Championship.

After three days of pouring rain and onshore winds, the sun finally came out, revealing a field of mud throughout the contest venue. In a Woodstock-like environment, surfers, team members and fans weren’t caring too much about the dirt and mud covered clothes. What was important today was the gathering of the worldwide surfing tribe, the spirit of this great annual event, and the incredible display of high performance surfing that was seen in Round 1 of the Master (Over 35) and Grand Master (Over 40) divisions.