Longtime Mavericks surfer and Northern California native, Wilem Banks, is no stranger to steep, sketchy airdrops at the Golden State’s premier big-wave gauntlet.
In fact, it’s kind of his calling card – or his signature move – at Mavs. Time after time, season after season, he’s taking off at the apex of a mountainous wave, getting to his feet, then free-falling down the face. Sometimes he sticks it, sometimes not.
As for this one below, he absolutely stuck it.
The clip comes from January 5th, 2024 – not the historic day of swell on December 28th, 2023. Actually, this day looks much cleaner than the aforementioned. Light afternoon winds, a soft golden glow bathing the lineup.
Banks paddles into a bomb, pops up on the peak, then the wave jacks up another couple feet, getting much steeper in the process, and sending Banks into an airdrop.
And…he lands it.
Commenters on the clip were impressed, writing:
“One of the best drops I’ve seen – EVER”
“Fell out of the sky on that drop, holy hell”
“One of the best vids I’ve seen at Mavericks for sure. Thank you Mr. Banks and Powerlines”
As mentioned before, the airdrop is Banks’ personal seal out at Mavs. But that doesn’t mean he always sticks it clean, and rides away into the sunset unscathed.
From one freefalling Mavericks wipeout back in September of 2019, Banks clung to his board for dear life, wishing he had monkey feet, but no dice.
“Gotta love a good biff!” wrote Banks.
You can’t win ‘em all.
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