ITW of Arild Kristiansen – Back from Down Under

Here’s an interview I had with Arild Kristiansen and Gustav Hallen just back from Down Under, Australia. Legends are real: Vikings are born to ride on the oceans of the world.

Hi, Arild. Can you introduce yourself to all strapless riders who have only known you through your videos?

My name is Arild Kristiansen, I am 28 years old and I live in a small town called Varberg on the Swedish west coast where I run a kite and surfing school for the seventh year this summer. I started with skateboarding and snowboarding as a child. Then I started to windsurf for some years. When kitesurfing came I was on it and loved it straight away.

4 years ago after a knee injury, I started to ride strapless and has never gone back on a twin tip or straped Board. I love to surf a lot. My strapless kitesurfing helps my surfing a lot and the other way too. I love to be in the ocean, it makes me a better person so I try to live my life close to the beach with some kind of board under my feet as much as possible.

Can you introduce Gustav and talk about your first meeting and present collaboration?

Me and Gus (Gustav Hallen) worked together at a night club a few years ago. He wanted to try kite surfing, so he took a lesson with me and we got friends. He was mainly shooting skiing before but wanted to do something new. So he began to follow me when I surfed to take pictures and from there we have worked more and more together. It developed in to make more short videos from different session.

After working together for around two years now, we begin to read each other really well. He has a lot of talent behind the camera. It will be great to see what he will do in a few years.

You’re back from Down Under, South West of Australia. We followed you through video episodes, news and photos published on your blog Dudesdownunder.com. Can you explain what was the idea of this trip and tell us how you organized this project?

After doing some short trips in the Nordic countries together and when we made the film “This Is Scandinavia”, we were eager to make a long journey. West Oz was perfect. After that I had been there a few times before and had good friends there.

The trip itself was a zero budget trip that we paid for ourselves. We got support with kite equipment from Surfers, the local shop in Sweden, and Cabrinha. But the aim in future is to be able to get some more sponsorship money so we can make cool new travel projects 🙂 and document it with video and photography.

Why did you choose Australia as a destination? What did the sailing conditions look like?

I worked in Western Australia for three and four years ago in a kite school. During that time we traveled around a lot and I fell in love with the coastline that has lots of great beaches for kitesurfing wave. So it felt like it was time to go back again.

The Margaret River area is so sick, like a massive swell magnet, and a big challenge to ride strapless. I love the surf atmosphere there. A very special place for me.

We saw some people on your videos. What do you remember as far as human relationships ?

We met up with an old friend of mine: Chris Steele, that I surfed with much before. He has also visited me in Sweden. He is a very good kite surfer with al lot of local knowledge. We also met some Greek friends that I’ve traveled and surfed in Peru with before: George and Nic, really fun dudes.

We just saw Ben Wilson and his crew one day at the beach. Was a shame that he was not there a week earlier when we had massive surf (episode 6). Would have been nice to see him ride in some real size.

Ben done so much for the strapless scene and he inspired me so much. I have a lot of respect for him and his vision.

Sometimes it’s a bit too much to talk about unhook down the line, the only real way to do it. But that is changing more now when its ok to do hooked in airs in onshore shit waves 😉 . A normal day in Sweden and in many places on earth, it is dead onshore, gusty winds and when we have “good waves” we are riding with a 5 meter kite in super strong wind. I would like to see someone ride unhooked in that and make it look like pure surfing 😉 and that is what strapless kitesurfing is for me a lot of the time when I ride.

I think that in countries like Sweden with no ground swell and no perfect waves are where straplesskitesurfing will get massive.

I think we saw Gus kiteboarding. So is Gus now your surfkiting master? 😉 What gear did he used to shoot the footages and edit the videos?

Gus just got his first surfboard so he will be out there strapless soon 😉 . Her Gus tell us a bit about his camera gear:

“When I shoot and shoot, I use almost always my Canon 5D Mark II. On this trip we decided to film with two cameras simultaneously and assembled a Canon, the 7d on a 5d. When you travel is the weight of a big problem, and camera stuff weighs a lot! My hand luggage weighed was 17 kg. Which means that you can’t take everything. Just the essentials. This offers a challenge as a filmmaker and you have to find own solutions to problems.

When I edit the materials I use Adobe Premier Pro. I like the interface and it works well in combination with After Effects. After Effects provides greater ability to work with single video clips, graphics and such as making Slow Mo’s.”

Gutav camera bag:

Cameras: Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 7D, GoPro HD
Lenses: Canon 24-70 f/2,8 L USM, Canon 70-200 f/2,8L USM, Canon 18-200 f/3,5-5,6 IS, Tokina AT-X 116, Pro DX (AT-X 11-16/2,8)
Misc: Canon EF 1,4 II Extender, 2 Canon Speedlite 589EX II, Zacuto Z-finder Pro 2,5x, Litepanels Micro Pro,
Gorillapod SLR, Manda 107 cm reflective screen, Zoom Handy Recorder H4n
Tripod: Velbon Sherpa Pro CF-635, ManfrottoVideohead 501HDV
Editing program: Adobe Premier PRO, Adobe After Effects

You spent 2 months in this pretty nice wind and temperatures conditions. Do you think they helped you to improve your waveriding style? Can you now pull off some new tricks?

To ride every day makes a lot for my timing and how to read the wave. I have definitely developed a lot in my rhythm and flow of my surfing to ride waves with more power that push you back in to the wave more. I want to connect together a wave with several turns, not just a hit. I also got to kitesurf really big waves strapless and it worked fine. You just have to get your timing right and not go for the first wave of the set to get a smoother face.

What moment will remain of this trip?

A strong memory I have from the trip is when I almost run over a shark. Had a bit of adrenaline for a moment 🙂 . We scored so many good sessions so it’s hard to say a special one. I am stocked that I got to ride as much as I did. We met great people who showed the greatest hospitality. And some of the sunset session we got in Esperance was magical.

How would you place strapless among other kiting disciplines, and its evolution in the future?

Hard to say.

I find it hard to identify myself with the usual kiteboarder with their twin tip riding. It doesn’t feel like we’re doing the same sport. But I hope that strapless kitesurfing will continue to develop but still with surfing as inspiration. I think that the strapless scene will get massive in places like Sweden that doesn’t have perfect surfing conditions but still a lot of coastline to explore. If I lived in a place like Indo with smooth barrels every day I would only surf. But with the wind generating powerless waves we got back home, you have a kite in your hand and its super fun surfing.

Will there be another edition of the Wax-On Tour, the first European event of strapless kitesurfing in Europe?

I haven’t heard anything yet this year if there will be a new tour. It’s hard to organize wave kitesurfing contests here with the weather. Last year we had wind in one of 3 comps. But the comp format is grate with surf judges that only look for flow surfing style and position in the wave.

– What will be your next trip?

We will go to different places in Scandinavia on forecast to score new spots and hopefully do some nice videos Viking style. 🙂

You can follow me on www.arildkristiansen.com and Gus on www.gustavh.com

Thank a lot Arild !

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