«Are you calling me from Spain? Oh! I love Pantín, in Galicia. I have competed there for several years and it is one of my favorite places in the world. The beach is wild, wonderful. I would like to return as soon as all this is over, ” Brisa Hennessy , one of the best surfers on the planet, claims the eleventh in the ranking, as if she were confined in a 60-meter floor, in a 120-meter floor or, what it gives more, in a house with garden and swimming pool. Hennessy is confined, yes, but she is confined to a deserted South Pacific island called Namotu, along with her parents, with food to spend there "more than two months" and enjoying the waves, many waves.

"It can be the perfect insulation, yes, yes. I am very lucky. Although we have not been in contact with anyone for several days, here we are all healthy and I am taking it as a preseason: I surf a lot, do exercises, practice yoga and then I dedicate myself to fishing, cooking or playing the ukulele, ”he says between cuts. of a wifi signal that still works.

Why is it there? The story is, in a way, the story of his life. Hennessy was born in Costa Rica because her parents, Hawaiian surf instructors, had set up a hotel there, but at the age of nine the family returned to the American archipelago and their journey around the world began there. "I really don't have a house," he admits. In the first years he stayed in Hawaii, learning tricks, but at age 15 he began to compete for all seas with his board and, soon after, his parents planned another move. During a vacation they had discovered a paradise corner eight kilometers from the west coast of Fiji, the island of Namotu, and finally the owner of the hotel in the place had agreed to sell it to him.

It remained to expand it to reach the current 11 rooms and adapt the restaurant and bar. He was left to live the rest of his life there. Two years ago, his parents and Hennessy, already in the world elite, moved to Namotu and little by little they have turned the resort into a dream for any surfer. The island's sandy surface is just one hectare, but the Pacific is rough and the Malolo coral reef is very close.

A country with hardly any cases

"When the coronavirus crisis started, my parents and I considered what to do, whether to go back to Hawaii or not and decided to stay here. Two weeks ago we closed the hotel to visitors, offered the workers to stay here if they wanted, we went to the main island of Fiji to buy food for a long time and we isolated ourselves. Now the ports have been closed so even if we wanted to, we couldn't leave, "says Hennessy on the island where five hotel staff members, all from Fiji, have also decided to stay.

In the oceanic country, the data of those affected by the virus is really low - the first case was on March 19, now there are five in a population of almost one million - but the restrictions already resemble those decreed in most of places of the world. If they needed to leave Namotu for lack of or due to a medical emergency, they would have to ask permission first. “We have a lot in stock and we fish almost every day. If we stay healthy we will have no problem staying here, "says the 20-year-old surfer who will start with a certain advantage this summer-fall, if there is competition, and especially next summer at the Tokyo 2021 Games.

While the rest of her rivals do what they can to keep fit at home, like the Spanish Garazi Sánchez , who had enough to be able to return from Barbados to Bilbao last week, she can train every hour.

“I had been traveling and competing for many years only, with hardly any time to prepare myself, to do a preseason and now I can do it. I think about how lucky I am to be here, because we are all healthy and to continue doing what I like. I do not like this advantage that I have, I would love that all my companions of the circuit could be here, the truth », she proclaims with the Olympic square already assured, with a temperature of 30 degrees always assured, while the waves of the South Pacific sound in the background. .

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