My first time buying a surfboard, wetsuit and surfing in Italy 🏄‍♂️ 🇮🇹

It is April 2020, after 4 months of surfing in Sri Lanka I feel like it is time to go home.

Not because I wanted to but covid with curfews and weird vibes in Sri Lanka pushed me to get on the last Emergency flight to Italy. 🦠

Here I am back in my hometown: Riccione.

A sea-town facing the Adriatic Sea with 35,000 people that in the summer gets to 500,000. A super touristy place with fantastic food, restaurants and clubs. La riviera romagnola!!!

I honestly love spending time here, seeing my friends and my family. 💙

But this time I am at the peak of the pandemic, Italy has lots of cases and is in full lockdown. 🏠

I have to self-quarantine for 14 days in my room.  

What a time to be back!!!

At least my best friend/neighbour Vittorio is singing from the balcony 😅

But now... when can I surf again?

After 4 months of surfing almost every day, I am under such hype that I just want to keep surfing.

However, in the current situation, I cannot go to another surf destination because it is hard to travel and I am honestly scared of covid.

I live 5 minutes from the Adriatic sea but I have never seen anyone surfing, or even mentioning surf in there.

But there are surf shops around my area.

I have seen waves sometimes, tiny messy waves for sure...

Are those waves surfable???

In full desperation mode, I buy myself a surf skate to get some sort of similar feelings to surf.

I never skated before so it is definitely an experience.

One thing leads to another...

Really unexpectedly, while I am skating in the parking lot in front of my house, my neighbour Norman comes up to me.

Before then I only spoke with him a few times just about general things as he moved there recently. Also, I always lived abroad so that did not help.

I know he used to skate a bit and used to work with one of my high school classmates.

But he asks me about what skateboard I am riding.

I explain to him this is a surf skate I bought it so I can improve in surfing.

he tells me that he also started surfing a few months ago. He goes surfing when there are waves...

WAIT a freaking moment?! So there are waves in Riccione?! There are surfers in Riccione?

We then start talking for at least 30 mins just about surfing and what it is like to surf in Riccione. 🙃

It was amazing!!!

We exchange contacts and promise to go surfing together when there are waves.

But when were the waves? How often?

At the time I had no clue how to read the surf forecast.

I used to open MagicSeaWeed and just see some numbers.

If they were bigger -> Bigger waves

Smaller -> Smaller waves

That was kind of fine in Sri Lanka where there is always waves, every single day!  

But in Riccione... You need to become a meteorologist ☔️

I remember looking at the app and for the whole week it was saying FLAT , I have never seen Flat in my life 😅

Norman explained to me that you might only have 1-2 hours to surf and then ciao ciao waves.

The Adriatic sea is so tiny compared to the Indian ocean that it does not have space for storms to generate consistent waves. Winter is better but still nothing crazy 😅

When there are waves they are often tiny, windy and messy.

Anyway, a few apps forecast 0.3m swell with 7s with the strong onshore wind in 5 days. 🌊

Yes, you might think this is crap... But there is a chance to surf...

Great maybe there are waves, but I need a board 🙃

If there are waves, where do I get a board? And probably a wetsuit because the water is still cold in April like 19 degrees celsius.

In Sri Lanka, I used to rent for 2 euros per hour.

But here in Riccione, there is no place to rent surf equipment and the "sports" shops are not allowed to open to the public.

Maybe online!!! Yes, I can find something online.

So I call every surf shop to see how fast they could ship.

Luckily I find an online store that is 45 mins drive from where I live. I quickly call them asking for a surfboard and a wetsuit.

The guy is super friendly and tells me that I can pay online come to shop and get whatever I need.

I left Sri Lanka that I was surfing a shortboard super wide and fat like a 6' 4" - 40L

But I am expecting the waves to be so much worse and after some recommendations from the shop assistant, I go for a 7'4" soft board for about 250euros.

My first ever board was a foam board! It is still there in my garage.

With this, I am sure I will catch anything

Also, get my first ever wetsuit 3:2mm - the cheapest in the store for 100 euros.

I do not want to invest too much money because I am like... "I will never go surfing in cold water again..."

Then in 2 months, I will eventually move to Portugal (but that is another story) 😅

Finally back in the water 🤙

The night before the wave day I got everything ready in my mum's car - my board, towel, water and wetsuit.

Meet up with Norman at the Secret spot at 5:30 am because the waves should be bigger and less wind.  

Or at least that is what the app says. 😬

Almost a month after the last time I surfed I would be back in the water and I am going, to be honest with you.

That night I don't sleep much, it is like the night before Christmas when you are a kid. I am too excited.

I wake up at 5 am, it is still dark, and my house is super quiet. I check the webcam of a hotel that faces the sea.

I see some waves there are some movements. 😬

Make some quick breakfast, get in my car and drive to the spot to meet up with Norman.

It was windy, brown and messy. Waves all over the place. No one in the water.

Honestly the worst waves I have ever seen in my life.  🌊

But I look at Norman and we are like "Let's goooooooooo".

We get in and to my happy surprise, the waves look bigger than from the outside.

While I paddle out I start laughing and smiling, the water does not even feel cold with the wetsuit.

You cannot imagine when I catch one, I do not manage to stand up but as I feel the wave pushing me...

I go BANANASSS!

The waves can push me in Riccione, am I back in Hawaii?!?

At the same time, Norman is crazy and full of energy, shouting "BOMBAAAA" whenever a big wave comes.

We wait in the line up looking back and we are like "This is California?! Ah no it is Riccione".

Then... I manage to stand up on a wave... well Ciao MAMMA - I am flying! ✈️

I am flying towards the beach I spent 19 years of my life, where I have never seen anyone surfing and it feels absolutely incredible!

Thanks surfing!!! Thanks, Adriatic Sea!!! Thanks, Norman  🤙

Why did it feel so good? 💙

I keep surfing in Riccione whenever there are whatever waves, it keeps me happy and in shape.

No, it is not like Sri Lanka but there are many things that I enjoy in Riccione:

1. Waves are so rare, I appreciate them much much more when they come. You have not surfed much so when they are there you go and give 200%.
2. Love The Riccione Surfer Community - Starting from Norma they are full of energy, dedication and positive vibes.
3. It feels so good to surf in the place you grew up for most of your life. It is your local spot.