Cover photo by Farías Moreno 

Legendary Chilean surfer Ramón Navarro, who has been denouncing on social media for days the ban on surfing in his town, Pichilemu and Punta de Lobos, dedicated a letter on social media, referring to his relationship with the sea and the decisions taken by the authorities that have banned the sport since April 5.

“The day that my town has real reasons to ban surfing, I will be the first to support it, but today, with the reality of Pichilemu, it is a measure that has no foundation or medical basis. When this happens, we will realize what kind of authorities and what kind of Pichilemu residents we have in our region, and we will be very attentive when they say that Pichilemu is the world capital of surfing, as they say. Because only in that phrase is 'Pichilemu' real,” says Navarro.

The former Eddie Aikau finalist says that his relationship with the ocean is deep: “The sea is in my blood, I am part of generations of men and women of the sea, as a passion and way of life, their livelihood and way of living life is what has made us who we are, understanding and respecting the sea in a very connected way.

I am from the new generation of my family, in which I continue to live off the sea, I understand every day with or without waves, I am still a fisherman and a diver, when you know and respect the ocean you reach a point of such high connection that your life depends on it and there are not many words to explain it.

You are simply a person of the sea and salt runs through your veins, you know when you can and when you can't, you know its limits and that same connection can give you unique moments that only last a few seconds but are recorded for life."

And he adds: “I know and understand the reality of our planet under the pandemic that we are currently experiencing and it is obvious that this big wave season I will not have the opportunity to seek out these moments like before when I traveled the country looking for these temples of the sea. I have gone almost three months without giving my parents a hug with a very close circle of people and respecting all health measures.

But I repeat again in my town Pichilemu where everyone talks about being the surfing capital today there is no quarantine, today the whole town is functioning normally and today practically everything can be done normally.

My love, passion and work with the sea is forbidden. I know that many people may be upset but my love for my sport has very, very deep roots.”

In Chile there are more than 118.000 confirmed cases of Covid 19 and 1356 deaths. The country has adopted different measures against surfing during the pandemic, in places such as sector 5 of Reñaca you can surf.

Read Ramón Navarro’s full letter in the post below.

 

 

See this post on Instagram

 

The sea is in my blood, I am part of generations of men and women of the sea, as a passion and a way of life, their livelihood and way of living life is what has made us who we are, understanding and respecting the sea in a very connected way. I am from the new generation of my family in which I continue to live off the sea, I understand all its days with or without waves, I am still a fisherman and a diver, when you know and respect the ocean you reach a point of such high connection that your life depends on it and there are not many words to explain it. You are simply a sea person and salt runs through your veins, you know when you can and when you can't, you know its limits and that same connection can give you unique moments that only last a few seconds but are recorded for a lifetime. I know and understand the reality of our planet under the pandemic that we are living today and it is obvious that this big wave season I will not have the opportunity to look for these moments like before where I traveled the country looking for these temples of the sea, I have been almost three months without giving my parents a hug with a very closed circle of people and respecting all sanitary measures. But I repeat again in my town Pichilemu where everyone talks about it being the capital of surfing today there is no quarantine, today the whole town works normally and today practically everything can be done normally. My love, passion and work with the sea is prohibited, I know that many may be bothered but my love for my sport has roots, very, very deep. The day that my town has real reasons to ban surfing, I will be the first to support it, but today, with the reality of Pichilemu, it is a measure that has no foundation or medical basis. When this happens, we will realize what kind of authorities and what kind of Pichilemi we have in our region and we will be very attentive when they say that Pichilemu is the world capital of surfing, as they say. Because in that phrase only "Pichilemu" is real #surfingisnotacrime #sportislife Photo @deheeckeren on one of the adventures on the most dangerous wave I have ever surfed and in which I had the worst experience of my career. But I will not live in fear and that is why I always come back.

A publication shared by Ramon Navarro (@surfnavarro) the 3 Jun 2020 has 5: 33 PDT