Cover photo: La Pedrera during another storm surge, months ago. Photo: Zanocchi 

The surfers who went to the water in Uruguay this weekend were wrong and there is no double reading on this. Without an obligation decreed, whether or not there is a government request to stay at home, the mere awareness that moving around and generating crowds encourages the spread of Covid 19 should be enough to stay at home.

Even with the Windguru showing the best swell in recent months, it was not good to go into the water, much less those who traveled many kilometers (being in contact with more people) and concentrated in the same place (being in contact with more people) as if it were any other day, when people are dying, relatives and close people in a country where more or less we all know each other.

In a country where what we most want is for this health, social and economic nightmare to end, taking the attitude of “I'm a surfer and I don't give a damn” does not seem to be the best strategy in an environment like the one described.

It is clear that never before in the history of Uruguay has there been such awareness that there are surfers in this country; news outlets, ministers, journalists, comedians and representatives of the Executive Branch have dedicated some words, not of affection, to the “tribe”.

According to what DUKE was able to find out based on what several people close or not so close shared on social networks and groups on messaging services, the surfers who went into the water did so aware that they were contradicting the social contract that everyone must comply with, but arguing that what is valid for everyone is also valid for them. They said to themselves: “If entire families can go out for a walk and others can go out in a group to run along the boulevard, which is used as a meeting place, for example, why can't the surfer go to the sea?”

The beaches that appeared on the news showed the ones that had a lot of people in the water, the ones that were made public, but this weekend there was surfing from Montevideo to Barra del Chuy. Many solo surfers went into the water in places where there was no one. Did they comply with social distancing? It is not for me to answer that. Their logic was yes.

Are fairs complying with the isolation? The lines at the banks? The bars and ice cream parlors that are still open? The people who played soccer this weekend? It's not up to me to answer that. In a WhatsApp group that I'm part of, a surfer said: "It's more dangerous to go to the fair than to go into the water," attaching a photograph of the fair that day, packed with people... For the surfer who went into the water, the isolation is clearly not being complied with at the aforementioned places, at least that was what the sources consulted commented.

There is another point, which the surfer who went into the water this weekend did not really think about so much, but rather acted on instinct: “The sea is epic and I can't stand it.” This is very difficult for the people to understand and of course it sounds silly, but for many surfers having their surf taken away is equivalent to having a lung, a child, etc. taken away (it sounds silly, and even more so in times of crisis, but that's how they express themselves).

So much so that in the same countries where surfing is explicitly prohibited (where they shot the surfers), surfers (including world champions who were defended by the best surfer in history) they went into the water anyway.

But above all things: As Luisma Iturria himself said and another group of legendary surfers who posted on social media: They were very selfish; what works for some, should work for all, if we all commit, we will all beat the bug.

And this, it must be said, of course, also applies to the selfishness of all those who go out for a walk on the boulevard, gather on sidewalks, play soccer and all the others who do not comply with the quarantine requested by the government as it should be.

The same campaign that was launched against surfers should be launched against all the others who are harming society in very serious times of crisis. We do not see people playing football or gathering on the boulevard in the media or by the authorities, and there are some.

The point is that both surfers and the rest of society owe themselves the same commitment because as long as one thing is valid, unfortunately, the other will also be valid.

And this is not said in order to defend anyone, but simply to denounce all the realities that are wrong and that if they are not corrected, we will never defeat this piece of shit.

A social contract that is broken by one party will later be broken by all.