Time for quantum leaps.

A crackle in the air, energy, as people begin to emerge from their house caves, protest, eat meals in restaurants, take their children to the park, fly kites etc.

I only counted one solo masked drivers in car during a short drive yesterday afternoon. A heavy reduction from the two-in-three just last month.

Major news outlets are reporting deadly spikes in Coronavirus, a new hot (as in feverish) girl (as in overweight 80 year-old diabetic men with underlying heart conditions) summer that might see the death toll double in just two short months.

The the crackle, the energy is undeniable and life is returning to normal.

But can life ever be normal without professional surfing?

Certainly not and it must be on the verge of busting through the “abundance of caution.”

And when it does famous Australian and current World Number 5 Sally Fitzgibbons declares, definitively, “There will be a change.”

Where?

How?

Aerial surfing, of course. In a recent interview with Olympics.org Fitzgibbons opened up about how she spent the quarantine hours, trying, trying, trying again to get consistent, watching video parts, dealing with the bumps and bruises, etc.

“I think aerial manoeuvres will make a huge push when we return to competition. There will be a change. They are so hard. The ones you see in all the surf movies getting stomped are just so technical. I’ve always had such a fascination in them.

You see some of the best [aerial] specialists in the world, like a Filipe Toledo or Italo Ferreira, the way they stomp them, and you think they have never been through the process of it being very awkward and getting hurt and the board hitting you every which way. You think maybe they just got them straight away because they make it look so effortless, but that’s the beauty in this sport. You can be inspired by the pursuit.

I have made some huge leaps in practice, but I think the quantum leap is putting them regularly into your competitive repertoire and under pressure going to them, even though they are super risky.”

Exciting but do you think she has watched BeachGrit‘s award winning serial Girl Goes into Orbit while training?

Many good tips from Filipe Toledo himself.

Five years ago, Derek Rielly interviewed Fitzgibbons about many wonderful subjects including her “air-reverse almost on tap.”

My how times have changed.

Do you wear a mask when driving alone in your car, though?

"Land is Chief, Man is its Servant."

But right when the World Surf League finally began to see its way out of a complete Coronavirus shutdown, right when alleged plans to bring the Triple Crown, on Oahu’s North Shore, and the Peahi Big Wave Challenge, on Maui, began to form Santa Monica has run into a buzzsaw.

For it is on Maui where activists have mobilized and are demanding a reclamation of native lands, including the road to Jaws, with further actions planned on Oahu’s North Shore.

Per a direct to camera explanation on the Instagram account @secretshawaii, Mary Ann Pahukoa explains both the group’s mission and also the murky facts surrounding a recent arrest warrant:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CA68gkxDRRI/

“This is the TAKE-BACK of Pineapple & Sugar Cane lands, stolen from Hawaiian ʻOhana. This is the eviction of leaseeʻs & corporations who have mis-managed these lands for profit. We strive to work together with all persons who understand He Aliʻi Ka ʻĀina, He Kauwa ke Kanaka, Land is Chief, Man is its Servant.

We’re trying to end the continued displacement of Hawaiians. We’re trying to put Hawaiians back on their ancestral lands so they can be healthy, happy, sheltered. We reclaim lands for the rightful heirs and we have been challenging the real-estate fraud here.”

The World Surf League brass is rumored to be “deeply shaken” by this turn of events, especially in light of the “current climate.”

Land and usage issues have plagued the League before, most recently in 2018 where a wholesale tour re-imagination was scrapped and charges of “entitlement” and “arrogance” were leveled at then-CEO Sophie Goldschmidt.

Will current CEO Erik Logan have the dexterity, the temerity, to navigate?

Much to ponder.