Roby D’Amico on Surfing the Mediterranean and the Miracle of Wetsuits

“My plan is the same as ever,” Italian surfer Roby D’Amico told Surf-Forecast. “I will stay at home during winter, help clean up my home beach, and try to ride the biggest barrels that I can find in the Mediterranean. It’s what I do.”

Roby grew up and lives near Rome, in the seaside resort of Ladispoli. His father was a fisherman and a keen windsurfer. Roby would grab his dad’s old windsurfer board and learned to rattle along at speed from as young as five. But even in those early years, he found the lack of turning boring. When a family friend saw him standing up on a boogie board in the tiny Med waves, he gave Roby a battered old surfboard to try.

“I found it very, very easy. I could actually go right or left on a wave,” D’Amico said. “I was like, ‘Wow, this thing is sick. Okay, I want to do it all the time.’” For most surfers, the next step would have been buying a board and indulging in the new passion. Roberto had a few natural advantages; he was a talented athlete, and through his fishing father, had an almost DNA-ingrained knowledge of the tides, wind, and weather. He soon had a surfboard. What he didn’t have were waves.

Summer in the Mediterranean Sea is almost always flat, apart from the tiny ruffles caused by the afternoon seabreeze. Until 7pm, that is. That was the time that the huge daily ferry from Sardinia to Fiumicino would chug into the bay and make a turn to port near Roby’s house. Its huge wake would send waves towards the rocky shore. Here Roby would wait, and ride one wave, or two, if he was lucky. He may have been the only surfer on the only rideable waves for thousands of miles. As far as a surfer’s origin story goes, it’s almost impossible to beat. We can’t think of any other surfer on the planet who learned to surf on a wave with its own timetable.

Even worse for a wave-starved D’Amico, his wave-making machine, the ferry, stopped he was 10. Roby channelled his energies into competitive swimming. His background, powerful build, and will to win meant he was successful. But he also couldn't shake his love of surfing, even through the summer flat spells.

His life changed dramatically with a seemingly small event in his early teens; he received a winter wetsuit. “That was a game-changer because it opened the Med’s real surf season,” he said. “I still love wetsuits, because of the freedom they gave me.”

Roby is currently wearing a 2/2 Deeply Explorer Zipperless III, as the summer ebbs away. He will upgrade to a 3/2 during the Autumn. “In the coldest months, a 4/3 Explorer III and boots are plenty warm enough in the Med. Deeply’s new zipperless design has made a massive difference – it’s really comfortable around the neck and chest. I can surf for hours and hours. They are the best wetsuits I’ve had.

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As a teenager, Roby had talent and was initially competitive. While being a surfer Mediterranean may have been in some ways a curse, D’Amico was at least lucky in that one of Italy’s best waves, Banzai, was only a ten-minute drive from his home.

“Initially, I was scared to surf Banzai. Even then, it always had a crowd when it broke, and was known as being heavily localised,” he said. “But I couldn’t resist, and as soon as I came and surfed it, everyone was very welcoming. They really pushed me to be a better surfer and took me in."

With mentors at home and support from Quiksilver, Roby traveled and competed around Europe, as well as in Australia and Hawaii, throughout his teens. However, Roby discovered that he hated losing more than he enjoyed winning.

“My dad wanted me to compete and to do a lot of contests and I obviously liked to win, but I didn't like to lose at all. And when I was 18, I thought, 'You know what, like I'm not enjoying surfing.' I was frustrated all the time, and I thought, 'Okay, I don't want to continue with this,' so I stopped my contract with Quiksilver. I just wanted to surf and have fun.”

Roby signed with Reef, who weren’t so focused on his competitive results. He was surfing more at home during the winter and had started his beach cleanups, at first with just him and a few mates. He formed Roby’s Cleanup, and guided by his positive attitude and infectious enthusiasm, it expanded rapidly. The biggest gatherings occur on International Surfing Day in June, when more than 300 volunteers gather to collect rubbish from the coastline of his local beach.

“For the first three years, we collected more than 1000 kilos of trash each year,” said Roby. “Last year it was less than half that amount, so that’s the positive news, we were making a difference. But in the end, I found out that the main problem was not the beach, but the river that runs through Rome, the Tiber, which is the issue."

Ladispoli is just 20 miles north of where the Tiber meets the Mediterranean. The Tiber is best known as the main watercourse that runs through Rome, but starts 250 miles inland in the Apennine Mountains. D’Amico, along with partner and filmmaker Marco Spinelli, decided to SUP the length of the Tiber and investigate the sources and causes of the pollution that he is forced to surf amongst. The pair made a documentary, “Io, Tevere - Le radici del mare”, translated as “I, Tiber - The roots of the sea,” of their journey.

“You think of the beauty of Rome, the eternal city, and yet the river that runs through the city is a conveyor belt of sewage, rubbish and pollution. And it empties in the Sea. And then we surf in it,” D’Amico said.

At the start of their expedition, the pair were able to drink the clear water that was fed by the mountain streams. By the end, they were paddling through a toxic and harmful environment.

“Our initial goal with the film was to highlight the issue and make people aware. The ultimate goal is to make sure there are serious fines for polluters and to teach kids that there are solutions.”

The Mediterranean remains his home and main source of inspiration and frustration. He says being an Italian surfer isn’t easy, but the rewards are endless. “I feel blessed because there are no bad days. If it is breaking, by definition, it’s a good day,” he laughs. “If you see colour and energy on the surf-forecast charts, you know you will be surfing, no matter what else you have on. However, unlike ocean swells it is so hard to predict. The last few years, I have put a lot of effort into really hunting the best waves, and trying to be there at the right place, at the right time.”

D’Amico has largely been successful, or at least has dramatically improved his strike rate. The last two winters, he has scored some incredible waves in the Med. More than most, he has shown the quality, all be it fleeting, of what the ancient Romans called Mare Nostrum, or “Our Sea.”

“If it is more than four feet, I often surf alone. I’ve managed to get some pretty good barrels here, where anywhere else in the world there would have been 100 people out,” he said. “And scoring at home remains the most unique and special surf sessions that I've ever had. My background means I feel lucky, and I'm extra motivated when I have the chance just to surf. And drives me to protect it.”

Roby’s Cleanup charity and Tiber documentary mean he is under no illusion about the scale of the problem. He calls it a huge-scale environmental disaster, where a fast-moving river is being polluted on an industrial scale by the government, businesses, and individuals.

Yet Roby isn’t one to get disheartened at the size of the issue. This is a man who believes that action breeds motivation. A positive enthusiasm and infectious will to ‘do good’ means it’s just another challenge to face and overcome.

After all, this was a kid who was willing to wait all day for a ferry to catch one wave and ended up travelling and competing all around the world. The Mediterranean is a surfing destination that can provide world-class waves and some of the most stunning backdrops in the surfing world. But to be a surfer here, you have to work hard and be patient.

“Where I’m from is who I am,” says Roby simply. “I always felt this connection with this sea and everything that surrounds it. That includes the community and coastline. Protecting it makes me happy.”