Note submitted by Rip Curl Argentina 

It must feel pretty good to emerge from a mandatory 100-day quarantine, spend three months surfing in a wetsuit, gloves and boots, and switch to surfing in shorts in warm water in the mecca of surfing.

As Lele Usuna says, it is a “unique feeling of freedom” and as her Rip Curl teammate and Argentine national team member, Nacho Gundensen, agrees: “Ufff, the difference is terrible.”

The two of them, along with Ornella Pellizzari, Santiago Muñiz and coach Martín Iautaro, left to train in Hawaii for the ISA World Championships in El Salvador that will take place in May (if Covid-19 allows it) that qualifies for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games (if Covid-19 allows it).

In the following paragraphs, Nacho and Lele talk about the trip that began a few days ago, the liberation of leaving confinement behind a little and what is happening and what they want to happen in Mecca.

 

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Hawaii welcomed us! 🙏🏽🔥 🎥 @martiniatauro / thanks @enardinfo & @asociacion_de_surf_argentina for the opportunity! . . #MonsterEnergyAR #UnleashTheBeast #TheSearch #OffTheWall

A publication shared by Nacho Gundesen. (@nachogundesen) the 24's 2020 10 44: XNUMX PDT

How did this trip to Hawaii come about?
Nacho: The trip itself is a training session of the National Entity of High Performance Sports (Enard) for the ISA of El Salvador 2021. To achieve the goal of getting into the Tokyo Olympic Games. We all thought about what was the best place at this time to fit in an intense month-long training session.

Lele: It came about because we had a lot of training plans since the beginning of the year; we were going to travel to Ballito, to the US Open, to Europe and since nothing could be done we decided to go on a training trip and at one point we were going to go to Indonesia but it was difficult to get there and enter and if something happened we would be very far away, so since the plan was to travel in October, I think one of the best destinations where we could be surfing waves almost every day and with very good surfers in the water was always going to be Hawaii for a month in October.

What did you have to do to be able to leave the country (swabs, connections, etc.)? Was there a lot of paperwork?
Nacho: We took two swabs so we could present them and not have to quarantine in Hawaii, one in Mar del Plata and just in case another in Miami, luckily we didn't have much of a problem and we passed.

The trip was long because we connected in Miami to Los Angeles and there we missed the flight and had to spend the night in Miami and the next day leave for Los Angeles and from there to Honolulu.

Lele: They didn't really ask us for anything to leave, that wasn't the problem, the key was to enter Hawaii. The truth is that the trip was quite calm although strange, obviously, always with the mask on... The plane was full of people but everyone was taking precautionary measures.

We had a very painful swab test in Argentina, they put the swab up to your brain, apparently, to make sure we didn't have anything, to travel with peace of mind and if they ask us anywhere, we have the negative result to show them.

We had to make a connection in Miami and there we got another swab test because Hawaii accepted “trusted tests” from only a few laboratories. The one from Argentina was not valid to enter Hawaii, so we stayed one night in Miami, we got a swab test there, we had to pay for it and it was much easier: You go to a Drive Thru, they give you a bag, you put it in your nose and after two or three days they give you the result.

How did airports view the stopovers? Less movement?
Nacho: At Ezeiza there was almost no one, at the other airports on the contrary, full of people.

Lele: I saw a lot of people, the only difference was that the restaurants were closed, you could order food but you had to eat it in the hallway or on the chair at the waiting gate. There was a lot of movement in the United States, in Buenos Aires there was no one and they only let you into the airport three waves before departure.

Everything else seemed pretty crowded, lots of movement.

And in Hawaii it's pretty quiet, everything is open and you have to wear a mask once you're inside places, outside nothing happens.

And Hawaii? Is the impact of Covid moving or being felt?
Nacho: The only thing that is seen is the use of masks, the rest is all working with shifts but it works.

Lele: You can tell there are no tourists, very few. I didn't go to Honolulu but everything looks pretty closed, the shopping malls are just opening. There isn't much movement of Covid in Oahu, there never was, so people are pretty calm here. But the economy did drop quite a bit because everything was closed and they depend a lot on tourism... Those are the things that were noticeable.

You came in and a swell was just ending, right? Did you get any good ones?
Nacho: Yes! I was lucky enough to catch a really nice one on my first outing, I was really happy with the way Hawaii welcomed me. Then the swell started to drop and we've had almost no waves for two days. The good thing is that Sunday is going to be great.

Lele: We had planned to arrive on Friday night, but because of the swab test and the night in Miami, we arrived on Saturday, which was the first good day of swell. We ran on Sunday and Monday was great in Rocky Point and we caught some.

We were going to go and run Pipe, but since it was the first day after a long trip, there were a lot of people there, we decided to run Rocky Point and get used to the water, the power, the trip, the schedule… But we got a couple, Nacho got a good right tube and I got some good ones, Orne too, so it was epic. It was a radical change from spending six months in boots in clear water and incredible heat… We were all really white, we could see each other from afar (laughs)!

"We were going to go to Pipe to run, but since it was the first day after a very long trip, there were a lot of people there, we decided to run Rocky Point calmly and get used to the water, the power, the trip, the schedule."

How about leaving one of the most intense winters of recent years at home to surf in shorts?
Nacho: Ufff, what a terrible difference, we are all white, we have to take care of ourselves from the sun now (laughs). It seems that you have lost a few kilos and the force of the waves here makes it seem like you are flying (laughs).

Lele: The truth is that winter at home was not so hard, it was intense because at first we were locked up for like 90 days without going out but then there were waves all winter. It was the first winter that I stayed at home and the truth is that we ran almost every day with one-meter waves and several epic days.

The water was quite cold but there was a lot of motivation after being locked up for so long. It was intense but it was nice, consistent, well, the cold wasn't felt that much because of the motivation and the waves there were.

The year flew by, I felt it. After spending so much time at home, going into the hot water in white shorts, a unique feeling of freedom… We still haven't gotten used to living this reality of being able to be in Hawaii enjoying the sea and the waves here, little by little we're going to fall.

Is there any specific plan other than surfing to death as much as you can?
Nacho: The truth is there isn't much to do outside of surfing, so during these days without waves we'll do a bit of sightseeing.

Lele: Yes, we are coming to Hawaii with objectives, we are not coming to surf to kill ourselves, we are coming to improve our performance in waves similar to those that will be in the world championship. Obviously we will take advantage of it, if we can race Pipe and Sunset, but this is a training plan for next year and more specifically for the ISA world championship in El Salvador.

We were already here when they opened the border with El Salvador, we would have definitely gone, what better than to train there.

We saw that Hawaii was a good destination to train, not only with good waves, not only in the heat but also because you are with the best in the world; you are in the water and there is John John, Adriano de Souza, Jordy Smith, Jack Freestone… Surfing with them in these waves is great! I think it is the best place to train now: Consistency of waves, heat, good surfers in the water.

The idea is to practice the technique a lot, the specific details that each one has to work on. We're not here to kill ourselves surfing, we're training.

Any goals you have set?
Nacho: The goal is to improve as much as possible in view of El Salvador and start the year with everything.

Lele: A specific technical volume, being able to give it your all in a 25-minute series in a hot place, working hard on our strength and mobility, each one has their own goal, I have to work hard on my first maneuver, bend more, put more power into surfing…

Santi is going to do fewer maneuvers with more quality, Nacho a variety of maneuvers, Orne has to be a little faster; each one has his own goal, his specific work to improve.

What does the forecast look like for the next few days?
Nacho: Sunday marks epic

Lele: Surfline says “good to epic” (laughs)! For Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Then it drops a bit and then another swell comes in. I think it was crazy because we arrived and it was great, now it flattens with one to two feet and with little to no waves and it was epic from Sunday to Wednesday and then it drops a little and then it goes up again. It seems that from Monday until about November 10th there will be waves.

How long are they staying?
Lele: We stayed for a month, we arrived on the 16th and we return on the 15th. I would like to thank the National Entity of High Performance Sports of Argentina for supporting us and allowing us to make this trip, also the Argentine Surf Association for all the support and push they give us so that we continue training and arrive in the best possible way to the tournaments and all the people who support us like coach Martín Iautaro, the physical trainers Juan Baldino, my wife and mother of my son Pili Ferrara, my family, my friends, the sponsors for giving me the opportunity to be here at this moment.