Heroes will rise.

As you know, intimately, the BeachGrit community is the most benevolent on earth or at least a very close second to Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity. Oh we seem all crusty and irredeemable, hideous on the outside but inside it is squishy, soft, lovable goo.

Thoughtful and kind.

And on that note, I received a thoughtful message, kind from a surfer, yes, but also an emergency room doctor part American part Kiwi. A fine mix if there ever was one. In any case he wrote:

I’m wondering if you could put the word out there for me and my hospital colleagues, that if folks have masks laying around (that they don’t need imminently-board shapers might have a healthy of N95), could they be so kind as to drop them at a local hospital. We are re using gear which was never intended to be used in that fashion. We need help until/if help arrives.

Fantastic, no?

Surfboard shapers?

You have always been our heroes but the opportunity to save the entire world and have statues built in your honor.

Have any extra masks?

Take them to your local hospital and feel the swell of gratitude!

Bold. Out of the box. Progressive.

And by sure now you have read the progressive news coming from sport, the only news coming from sport, featuring Red Bull’s renowned Formula One boss Helmut Marko but if you have not let us quickly turn to the BBC for proper reporting and correct details.

Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko said he advised his drivers to become infected with coronavirus while the season is in hiatus.

The 76-year-old said he had the idea to bring his Formula 1 drivers and juniors together in a camp, which “would be the ideal time for the infection to come”.

“They are all strong young men in good health. That way they would be prepared whenever the action starts,” he said.

The rest of Red Bull management were against the idea, which was abandoned.

“Let’s put it this way: it has not been well received,” Marko said.

The Austrian was speaking in an interview with his country’s television channel ORF, in which he added: “We have four Formula 1 drivers and eight or 10 juniors, and the idea was that we would organise a camp to mentally and physically bridge the dead time.”

And there we have it. A “Coronavirus Party” like chickenpox parties of old.

Now, F1 may have abandoned the idea but should professional surfing embrace? Surfers, I would imagine, are fitter, more robust than race car drivers, for one. Professional surfing could use a jolt to snag headlines, for two, with new fans embracing a progressive, “outside the box” action. And, for three, the first event of the year is already sponsored by Corona.

Oh, I’m not suggesting professional surfing do this, how dare you suggest, I’m merely asking a question and also have a new sporting hero.

Helmet Marko. I mean, the name alone…

But, back to our matter at hand, what would Joel Tudor think?

What about Ken Skindog?

Much to ponder.

"A once in a lifetime opportunity."

Silver linings, poking, peeking, making theirselves visible from around the every darkening Coronavirus Clouds. In the United States of America, President Donald J. Trump just announced that the country would be shuttered for a further 30 days. An absolute blessing as we’ll need each and every one of those to re-imagine professional surfing from the ground up alongside our fearless leader and World Surf League CEO Erik Logan.

And let us first turn to his latest interview in Sports Pro Media for his exact words, his precise frame of mind.

Never in my three decades of being media have I ever had a chance, really, to take a step back. You did at off-sites, you do it at retreats, but then you wake up the next day and go right back to work. This, because of the economic pressure, what’s happening with your employees, what’s happening with global sport, basically the economy in every country is going through its version of a downturn, really puts the big questions on the table.

If you look at that from a point of view, which I do, that this is a massive opportunity to reshape an organisation for the next ten to 15 years, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. It’s painful when you’re in it, but I’m really focusing on what is the organisation going to be like on the other side of this. Because of this, we absolutely know, is temporary, so I look at it as a real gift and an opportunity.

There is much more fruit on the trees, read here, but back to your job… not the one you’re currently not allowed to go to but your new consulting gig. Our new consulting gig. CEO Logan is there in Manhattan Beach unable to surf as empowered lifeguards patrol the beach demanding respect. There both inspired and bored. He takes his surf candy ultra hard, like you, like me, and so now is the time to reshape professional surfing for the next ten to fifteen years.

How does it look, exactly?

Tell him!