“Everyday at 6 O’clock a ferry would drive by, and there would be two waves at 6 O’clock. And we would be like, thirty kids frothing.”

That was how the current Surf Europe cover star Leo Fioravanti learnt to surf. He is the latest in a long line of successful Leonardo Fiorvantis, such as Leonardo Fioravanti and Leonardo Fioravanti. The former was a noted surgeon in the sixteenth century who performed the first recorded splenectomy on Italian soil; the latter is an engineer famous for designing Ferraris. Still, I think I’d rather be this Leonardo Fioravanti.

Leo grew up 20 minutes from Rome, Kanoa Igarashi is originally from Tokyo, and yet they’re now two of the best young surfers in the world. In this video from the kindly folk at Red Bull they do some surfing and talk about what it’s like being a young professional.