He started body boarding at St Clair beach at a young age when the family lived in Bedford St.
"We are staying in our old house this week and I'm sleeping in my mum's old room," he said. "It's pretty weird."
Coming back to the championships in Dunedin is special for Christie.
"It's great to be back in the city where I was born," he said. "I just want to hang out with everyone."
Christie decided at the age of 8 that he wanted to become a professional surfer.
"My older brother Danny was five years older than me," Christie said. "He was sponsored and got all the free gear and went around the country surfing. He and his mates had a lot of fun. I wanted to be like him."
He gained early success when he won the New Zealand open championships at the Dump at Taranaki when he was just 16.
"It was a shock to win then. I wasn't expecting it at all," he said. "I wasn't thinking about winning but I kept getting through heats."
Christie went on the professional qualifying tour for the first time in 2009 and finished 180th.
"I was pretty nervous that first year and learnt that I had to stop thinking so much," he said. "I was travelling by myself and didn't have much help.
"I just had to accept where I was. I couldn't afford to get homesick. I learnt to enjoy it."
It was different last year when he travelled with his mates Billy Stairmand and Jay Quinn.
"We were a tight group, travelled as a crew and had a lot of fun," he said. "It worked for us all."
They called themselves the Suitcase Surfers and set up a website with this name.
"We are a little unit and just feel at home even though we are on the other side of the world," he said. "We did the things we would do at home and it helped our mental attitude to the sport."
Christie used his mind too much on the water and thought about what he was going to do before the wave arrived.
"It is much better if you just surf the wave as it comes and stop using your mind," he said. "I used to stress too much."
He now lets his natural instincts take over when he is on his surf board and it has brought him better results. He moved his international ranking up from 180th in 2009 to 65th last year.
He has adopted the same approach he uses when free surfing.
"I'm not thinking then," he said. "I'm just out there in the moment. I just pretend I'm free surfing."
Christie weighs 90kg and found the waves too small in Europe last year.
"The waves were small in every contest and it is pretty hard to surf your best on small waves," he said. "It gives the smaller guys a big advantage."
He found the waves at St Clair yesterday were a lot bigger than anything he experienced in the 20 races on the pro tour last year.
"I like waves where you don't have to struggle to get speed."
Christie's next goal is to reach the top 32 in the world and get on the World Tour group.
"I also want to win a Six-Star international event," he said.
Christie scored 15 points out of a possible 20 in his heat yesterday. It was the highest heat score of the event so far, achieved in a massive 4m surf.
RICHARD (RICARDO) CHRISTIE
• Age: 22.
• Occupation: Surfer.
• Born: Dunedin.
• Home town: Mahia.
• Club: Mahia.
• Record: NZ champion 2005, runner-up 2010.
• International ranking: 65th.
• Best performance: Third Lacanau, France (2010).
