Surfing: Going with the flow brings results

The New Zealand championships are a homecoming for Mahia surfer Richard (Ricardo) Christie, who was born in Dunedin.

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."