From Pro to CEO: with Adam Robertson

The rugged Southern Australian coast where the waves are heavy, swell surges up from the powerful southern ocean and the ambient temperature is often colder than the water temperature, breeds tough and dynamic surfers. Surfers that paddle out for for the love of surfing, that brave the harshest of elements just to feel connected to the water. Surfers that relish in solitude and freedom more than hustling for waves and competing for position in the line up. It’s a unique and often unforgiving place to hone your skills in the water and is often overlooked when it comes to developing young talented surfers.

Adam Robertson was exactly that. A raw talent that grew up outside what is considered the breeding ground for professional Australian surfers. That perfected his skills in a small town right down on the southern tip of Australia. But he had a dream, a focus that seen him climb the ranks of the Australian Junior circuit and ultimately led him to an iconic finals appearance at Bells Beach in the mid 2000s.

Adam may not have achieved all the goals he set for himself during his professional surfing career but he has since forged a successful career in the corporate surfing world that has allowed him to make his mark on the sport that he loves.

Adam spoke to us about climbing the professional ranks, the highs and lows of his professional surfing journey, his transition into the corporate world of surfing and everything in between. This is an in depth, detailed interview & a great read, take a look:

Adam launches into a vertical snap. Image supplied by Adam Robertson

Q. You grew up and learnt to surf in a small town in South West Victoria with your dad Pete (RIP) as a mentor.  How do you think this shaped you as a surfer and as a person?

A. Yep,  I grew up at Cape Bridgewater which is 17 Km out of Portland.

I was lucky to have a dad that was a passionate surfer and to be able to get me into surfing at a young age was awesome, he was a very good mentor, and a very good role model to try and follow how he went about a lot of scenarios.

Being a parent now I probably realise how good of a role model he was, and how level headed and calm he was throughout so many different scenarios.

I feel lucky to have had a lot of positive mentors from the Portland region who helped me along my surfing journey, and remain great friends with a lot of my childhood mates.

I’m not too sure how it “shaped” me.  From the inside looking out I just am who I am.  Maybe living in a remote area makes you think to yourself “nobody else is going to get me where I want to go” so in that case maybe it made me self motivated to chase what I wanted to without needing rely on others so much.  

Q. When did you decide to make a career out of surfing and what were your first steps?

A. I began doing more competitions at a state level in year 9, where I made the State junior team and finished 5th at the Australian Junior titles (1997)

In 1998 I made the final of the Australian Junior Titles and went to the World Junior titles and finished 7th. 

I think after the World Junior Titles I thought there was a possibility of me being able to make it in surfing.  I guess there was some validation from my results that urged me forward.

Q. You competed on the WQS (World qualifying series), how was your experience on the tour?  Was it a hard slog physically, emotionally, financially? How long were you on tour for?

A. Competing on the WQS tour was great.  It was an eye opener.  I had lots of experiences that were both good and bad.

I probably look back with some regret having not qualified for a permanent spot on the World Tour.  I came really close a few times, particularly in 2005 and 2008. 

2006 I had to have an ankle reconstruction so I missed a year which took the wind out of my sails in what was probably critical years where I felt ready to qualify.

All in all I look back and feel pretty good about my experience.  I made some great friends all over the world. Great friends that I still have to this day. There are so many great memories, some funny, some unbelievable, some hard.  

Was it a hard slog physically:

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. 

Losing can be hard to take,  the calibre of surfing and surfers you have to surf against are the best surfers in the world or the top 100 surfers in the world, so nothing comes easy.

It can be difficult being away form friends and family for long periods of time.  We would spend maybe 9 months overseas each year.  So certain things in your life maybe get put on hold.

But then again,  you follow summer around the globe and you’re surfing for a living. So I was lucky also.

Our year used to look a little bit like:

January late ; Go to Brazil (Fernando de norohna)

February and March - Australian Leg - Newcaslte, Margaret River and Bells

April and and May - Scotland, France, South Africa - month trip

June -  Maldives and Sri Lanka

July/ August and September  - South Africa, America, England. France, Portugal, Spain - 2 months trip

October - Azores and Canary Islands

November - Hawaii for 6 weeks

So it was pretty busy schedule.  Ideally in there somewhere is some form of training trips.

A few of the locations I would prefer to get to early as the wave type sat outside my preferred skill set.  Such as US Open at Huntington Beach.  So I’d need to spend some more time there remembering how to surf waves of that kind.

Life on tour, Adam in Blue/blk rashie. Image supplied by Adam Robertson

Q. Take us through your iconic CT experience at Bells in 2009 when you made the final? How did you prepare for that event and how did you manage the pressure of being the local wildcard?

A.  So late 2008 I’d just narrowly missed out on Qualifying for the World tour.  I went to Hawaii only needing to make a few heats to get on the World Tour.  I failed, which was pretty devastating for me given that was a bit of a life long goal.

In January of 2009 I started physical training with James Podsiadly who was the fitness coach of the Geelong Cats at the time.  So we’d train a few times a week, which was absolutely brutal.  I did a lot of boxing in that off season too.

So I felt really fit and confident,  having come so close the year before I probably had a bit of a point to prove.  There were surfers on the tour that I felt I was better than, and I should have had their spot.

I also had really good surfboards, Simon Anderson shapes.  They were working really well and allowed me to surf without thinking too much. 

The forecast for that particular event was really good, and fit my skill set really well.  So the surfing part was actually quite easy.

Elements of the World Tour at the time probably suited the way I competed which made it a little easier for me.  Things like priority and man on man heats, as opposed to surfing 4 man heats with no priority, which probably wouldn’t have suited me as much.

Q. You're now the CEO of Surfing Victoria and a surf coach/developer with Surf Better Now.  How did you transition into the corporate world of surfing?  Was this a life decision that you made or did you kind of slowly fall into it?

A. Well I probably never really set out to be the CEO of Surfing Victoria. 

I finished school and wanted to become a Primary School Teacher.

I was fortunate to be given an opportunity in Sport Development by Max Wells (former Surfing Victoria CEO).  I was very lucky that the team at Surfing Victoria were supportive of me and my development into more of a Sports Administrator role.

In all honesty, I was drowning in a lot of areas as I transitioned into working full time.  I suppose being willing to learn and adapt helped. 

Athletes having trouble transitioning out of sport is not uncommon.  I was lucky to have good support to be able to do that.

Q. There are far fewer Victoria surfers making it to the pro ranks.  What do you think drives this?  Do you think progression in surfing is easier and more accessible along the NSW and QLD coast (for example) than it is along the surf coast of Victoria?

A. I think Victoria is significantly different to a place like the Gold Coast as an example.

Victorian line ups have far more order, and are far less competitive.  Different coastline different mentality.

Surfing is very competitive, and as it is getting more popular it gets more competitive.

The tour make up has changed a little with regards to the APAC (Asia/Pacific) series, Challenger Series and then onto the top tiered championship tour, so it’s a bit different to how it used to be.  Probably worse in my opinion.

Victoria has India Robinson, Ellie Harrison, Xavier Huxtable and Tully Wylie on the Challenger Series right now.  So it’s something. 

I feel like there’s some good junior surfers coming through at the moment so putting things in place for them will be important as they come up through the ranks.

Q. You have been involved in some iconic projects including the development of the first wave pool in Australia (Urbnsurf Melbourne) and Surf Better Now (online coaching program).  Do you have any new projects in the works?

A. Surfing Victoria has a lot going on.  The Victorian Indigenous Surfing Program is in its 27th year.  Surf Her Way, a women and girls initiative is slowly building.  Surf Better Now (SBN) is ticking along but probably needs a bit of time to continue evolving, the landscape for online coaching has changed a lot since SBN’s inception.  The online coaching platforms are everywhere nowadays.  I think when we launched SBN there was 2 or 3.  Now there’s like 50 or more. Some great, some not so.

My attention has been brought back a little into developing a solid program for emerging surfers from Victoria.

Looking forward, Surfing Victoria will execute operations for Rip Curl Pro again, which is always a big body of work.

So there’s always a lot going on. Nothing “new” that’s jumping to my mind though…….I’d like to do a surf trip.

Finding some shade in perfect conditions. Image supplied by Adam Robertson.

Q. There has been a recent announcement that the WSL is returning to a somewhat original format.  Scrapping the mid-season cut, the final 5 and non-elimination rounds.  This has been well received by the public.  How are the athletes and staff feeling about the changes for 2026?

A. I don’t know how the athletes and staff are feeling about it.

The final 5 always came with some grumbles,  but the cut was pretty brutal in my opinion.  So seeing that go I think is what the surfers wanted.  Seeing the final 5 go seems to be what the majority of viewers wanted so it seems as though they’re listening and wanting to get it right.

I personally liked the final 5 idea, but I didn’t like seeing Carissa lose after dominating the season a few years back.

We will see where we land through this year. But the surfing and surfers on the tour both men’s and women’s is pretty bloody good so I’m sure it’ll be a good show.

To wrap up, 3 easy questions:

Q. What are you currently reaching for from your quiver and why?

I have a Mitchell Rae Outer Island that I am enjoying riding a lot

Q. Favourite wave, world wide and why?

Sunset beach in Hawaii. It just has a lot of good memories connected to it from the first time going to Hawaii to the last time I surfed it in 2017 or so.  

Q. Most inspirational surfer ever and why?

I'm not sure,  maybe my dad.  He was passionate surfer up until the end, even when his body was failing him he wanted to be doing it.  So that’s very admirable.

Kelly Slater has probably been an inspiration for every surfer more than most.

There are lots of inspirational surfers out there,  like a Mono Stewart (para surfer) Barney Miller (para surfer) Bethany Hamilton.  I don’t know, there’s lots of good stories and people in surfing to draw from.  Everyone is doing it because it makes you feel good.

I think me personally having my kids loving the sport now is something driving me along.

Interview by: Kylie Palmer with Adam Robertson, CEO of Surfing Victoria

(Writer for SLAB MAG @slab.magazine and co owner of The Slab Lab @the.slab.lab)