Remember Bells? Remember Adam Roberston the unknown Portland natural foot with the Jon Bon Jovi hair who scored a wildcard and flashed his way to the final? Six months later we find Robbo recovering from injury, with the Bells prize money long gone.

Remember Bells? Remember Adam Roberston the unknown Portland natural foot with the Jon Bon Jovi hair who scored a wildcard and flashed his way to the final? Six months later we find Robbo recovering from injury, with the Bells (semi video here) prize money long gone but the memories of that epic day still fresh in the memory bank. And we ask: why is this remarkable surfer still without a major sponsor?

Tracks: Let’s go back to that day at Bells – you’re the first Vico surfer to make the final of the contest I believe. Was there a lot of support from the Victorian community?

Robbo: The support was great from everyone really not just Torquay and Portland locals,  I’ve had guys from all over the world come and say “Well done. We were rooting for you” kinda thing.  But the whole town of Portland was pretty stoked and it was great to have my best mates and family cheering me on all event. It was nice to be able to share something like that with them.

Tracks:  Do strangers just come up and buy you beers now?

Robbo: No, I still think nobody really knows who I am, which is completely fine.  I don’t really go out a whole lot in Torquay,  mainly just when I go home to Portland.  But still nobody really buys me beer.  Hopefully they start!  But I don’t mind buying my own beer ha!

Tracks: There was some talk that you were underscored throughout the contest…

Robbo: I don’t really know, I was surfing not watching so it’s hard for me to comment on that.  I certainly think the judging is different than the WQS, but the level is a step higher also (on the CT) so the judges have to be really on their game to get the right result.  I felt like I really had to step it up just to be near the level of the top seeds on the WCT.  I got 2nd in a WCT event so as far as I’m concerned it can’t have been that bad for me, so no I don’t think I got underscored.  Parko was surfing damn good (watch final here) and he deserved to win the event.

Tracks:  Any Bells prize money left?

Robbo: No.  Unfortunately I have had to spend all the money on traveling and following the WQS.  Having no major sponsor has meant I’ve had to put any little money I have into getting to the next event. So unfortunately almost all the money I won at Bells is gone.

Tracks:  When I last saw you you were freezing in a 3/2 steamer in mid winter vico. What’s the latest on the sponno front?

Robbo: Not too much news on the sponno front,  I’m riding for globe, Jetty Surf and X-cel, and Simon Anderson surfboards but as far as a major sponsor goes things are going pretty slow.  It’s hard for a lot of people out there at the moment, not just myself. So I guess I just have to make the most out of the money I have.  So things haven’t really changed a lot financially since Bells.

Tracks:  You injured your knee this year – what happened?

Robbo: I injured it surfing Winki Pop on a fairly solid day.  I just got crunched trying to pull into a barrel and my knee basically buckled under me, (kind of like when you see a footballers knee go sideways when someone collides with his lower leg). When I heard a pop and knew I was up the creek!  Luckily I had Mushy, Jirah Laws and another mate to help me get up to the carpark.  I spent two months out of the water with a severe grade two medial tear, miniscus tear and bad bone bruising.  It wasn’t fun!

Tracks:   Plans for the rest of the year?

Robbo: I’m going to Hawaii,  unfortunately I missed a lot of WQS events so qualifying is almost impossible being rated 50th or something.  So I don’t know,  I’d love to go good in the Hawaiian events and hopefully net some sponsorship for next year.  So I don’t know about plans.  Just try my best to surf well and be a nice guy I suppose.

By Kirk Owers
All photos: Smithy