By Erika Scafuro

Two months have passed since lockdown has started, all over the world country after country, for the pandemy of Covid-19.
For the first time in our lives we experienced so uncertain and hard times. Nobody could have imagined they would have happened with health workers and sick patients fighting strongly against this new enemy.
We found ourselves resilient to the need to stop and make sacrifices suspending our lives and habits, to maintain the health and the safety of our community. So worldwide we started to stay home and lockdown for surfers meant that they could no longer reach their favorite spot and dive into the sea to catch waves as they could do before.

Be a surfer means the sense of freedom, connection with outside and nature. But, first of all, surfers know so well the sense of community as they know that, before be surfers, they are people and citizens with responsibilities and duties.
So with the announce of coronavirus lockdown surfers made sacrifices as everybody for the good of the community, they followed the rules and restrictions on staying home not to spread the contagion. You will surely have seen how many surfers gave the right example sharing their workout session at home and you probably laughed for a moment watching funny videos in which surfers tryed to ride waves at home in a lot of creative ways!
But, in the other side, some surfers all over the world were surprised to reach surf spots despite the bans of all water activities and the beach closed. We have noticed how sad it is that people don’t think about the importance of keep the good and safety of the community. Surfers who went against the rules went, first of all, against all the people who fight to stay healthy and those who work in hospitals trying to do the impossible for not put the sanitary sistem under collapse. In this period it is everyone’s responsibility to be patient and make sacrifices so as not to endanger themselves and others.

There have been several episodes of selfish people caught by the police who told them to stay away from the beach. In Costa Rica police shot surfers and in Reunion Island a group of surfers escaped into the jungle from the police helicopter. Some governments ruled fines and prison for violators.
We have also to say that the situation is not the same in the world because some countries, as Australia did, decided to mantain open space including beaches, parks and reserves to short stay exercises including surfing for alone people with the rules of mantain social distance of 1.5 meters and a good hygiene practice. It is news these days that Australia opened Bondi Beach, given the decrease in infections. So a lot of surfers had the opportunity to come back training, we saw how happy they were to run towards the Ocean with their boards!
These hard times will finish and we hope the the worst is gone. Also if we still don’t know when we can back to surf again in freedom after the lockdown, definitely the surf community will find a way to continue this passion in safety. Surfers know that life is a worth!