PRO NZ SURFER

Ricardo Christie was born, and grew up in Mahia. He was born in 1989 and is 26 years old. His real name is Richard but his brothers used to call him Ricardo as a nickname and it stuck. He had a good life when he was younger because he said “life was simple back then and I was lucky to have it that way”. When he was younger he used to travel the world on the Ripcurl team, filming and shooting photos.

Ricardo’s parents are Huhana (his mum) and Rick (his dad). He grew up with his parents and his brothers. His older brother Danny influenced him into surfing when he was 8 years old by pushing him onto waves. He has got a girlfriend (Sophie) and has 2 children, both boys named Eli and Milo.

Ricardo took a huge step backwards in 2013 when his form started failing, this made for difficult finances which led him to quit the qualifying tour. He had to work for builder friends and in a surf shop and had hardly any money. But in 2015 he took a huge step forward again when he qualified for the 34-man world surf league and his finances are now back on track.

Ricardo Christie has beaten some of the best surfers in the world such as Adriano De Souza from Brazil (who is no.1 in the world), Filipe Toledo from Brazil, Jordy Smith from South Africa and Matt Banning from Australia. He has earned $43,500 US from his four contests. He is only the second ever New Zealander to qualify for the mens world tour.