The chance of getting into windsurfing whilst living in Sweden is slim (sea temp 2 degrees in the winter/12 in the summer). The chances of becoming a professional windsurfer are even rarer which is why you’ve probably only heard of the windsurfer Anders Bringdal (yes, he’s Swedish).
But over the last five years you may have heard of a young Swede called Andreas Olandersson who has won everything there is to win in his home country and certainly made his mark on the EFPT/PWA Freestyle Tours. As he reaches the grand old age of 30, Andreas has decided to come home and combine windsurfing with working for Simmer Sails. What? You didn’t know that the Simmer Sails HQ was based in Halmstad on the west coast of Sweden? Let him enlighten you…
Halmstad, Sweden. It’s the best spot in Sweden for windsurfing; it works in mostly all directions. Even though Denmark is in the way, you get really good swell, sometimes up to five metres.
Where else is good in the Nordics?
North of Stockholm it’s too cold, forget it! Windsurfing in Gothenburg (on the west coast) is very big with 5/6 windsurfing shops, Surfers Paradise being the biggest. You get good surf around the bottom of Norway and it’s the most consistent around Klitmoller, across the water in Denmark. From Halmstad it’s three hours to Klitmoller using the ferry so I go over on a good forecast.
Why did you start windsurfing?
My dad has been windsurfing for 29years. He windsurfs more than me even though he is turning 60. I started at ten years old with my twin brother who’s a very good sailor also (in Sweden’s top10). We were thrown into all sorts of sports; snowboarding, moto cross, thai boxing…but windsurfing was the one that stuck.
| “To compete and then come home to almost a normal job is a good compromise for me.” |  |
Do you make enough money out of windsurfing?
Yes. From 25-30 yrs old I was a full time professional living from the sport. Ok, I did some work in the warehouse of Simmer, packing up the sails, delivering locally to make a bit of extra money but most of the time my sponsorship funded the pro life.
The sponsor trail…
Well, I first had to get good. My passion was wave riding but I realized that freestyle, which was so new when I started, was a better way to get noticed. I was the first guy doing spocks in Sweden back in ’99. I got some good results and became sponsored by JP/NeilPryde at a national level in 2004 and then got my first international deal in 2005 when Josh Stone was still the main guy. I loved being on the ‘best team’, I took it all in, I was a very keen team rider. But the honeymoon period soon wore off when I realized the ‘team’ was very much ‘two tier’. If you were the top guy then OK, but if you were the level down they were not really nice to deal with. The team was TOO big and I just wasn’t comfortable there.
In 2007 I had a great year on JP; 3rd place at the IFCA world champs, overall 3rd EFPT, Swedish, Nordic champion – it was a good year for results but it still wasn’t good enough for them. So at the end of 2007, I moved over to Fanatic and felt like one of the team – I was at the top table, I was in!!
However, the sport of windsurfing is so small and if you don’t have a really good international deal, you can’t live off it. I realized fairly early on that you need to have additional sponsors and Quiksilver (Sweden) has been the one.
Once you’ve with Quiksilver you get into another level – into other brands in the same division where everyone knows everyone else. It’s a big deal for me; they like me to compete but mainly they say ‘what can you do for us in Sweden’? That’s what’s important; to promote the Swedish market. So there I was, happily with Fanatic and Quiksilver but needed to find a sail brand.
The Simmer Connection
As I said earlier, I’d worked in the Simmer warehouse in my younger days earning extra cash and I’d known Tomas Persson (Simmer boss) for some time. They knew I was looking for a sail sponsor and took me on, but not just as a team rider. They asked me to work for them full time so I moved to Halmstad. I now live 200m from the Simmer Warehouse in Halmstad and 2km from Tomas himself. I started off helping them re-design their 2008 freestyle sail (XD Freestyle) working with Tomas in Halmstad. The last few months I’ve been working on the 2010 ICON.
I well as doing R&D for Simmer and being a team rider I will also be selling to the shops and hopefully looking after the markets in Poland, Russia and Cape Town where I go every winter. I like the idea of selling the kit to shops. If you’re a pro windsurfer for five years you know how to sell! To compete and then come home to almost a normal job is a good compromise for me. I don’t want to work 24/7 in an office but I’ve got to make the change from my old life to my new life.
What can you tell us about the 2010 ICON?
We’ve had a test team of eight guys on the west coast of Sweden working hard on the 2010 sail. Talking in the same language, living in the same town – it’s been so much easier. We also sent several batches to Maui for Fredrick Steiner and Francisco Porcella to test. The sail needs to be ready for launch at the beginning of July so we are all done now and the sail is in production.
We’ve also been working on a wetsuits and clothing line with accessories all for 2010 so there has been lots to test.
What about the 2010 graphics?
Our 2010 graphic designer lives 1km from me in Halmstad and I can tell you that the 010 look will be more aggressive, more hardcore than previous years.
Some would say that Sweden is not such a good place to have a windsurfing R&D Centre?
I would say Maui and Pozo aren’t great as the conditions are roughly the same all year round. Being in Sweden makes you travel to different venues and then in Halmstad we get a variety of European conditions; onshore to cross shore to the odd down-the-line day. Anyway, Tomas is in China every second week working with the factory and establishing a good test set-up for the slalom gear.
“I lived in Sweden 30km from a lake that was icy for 4/5 months of the year. I had no sponsors, no results, sailed in crappy conditions and still made it – that’s what I’m most proud of.”
No More Freestyle
In my last year of doing freestyle (2008) I had signed a new deal with Simmer Sails and I wanted to deliver something for them in terms of freestyle results but I had really lost interest. I did five years of international freestyle contests and was trying new moves that the top boys had mastered two years ago. I thought; I am 30 years old, I’m not eighteen and living in Brazil – it’s tough s***! I also thought I don’t want to slide anymore – I want to go ‘up’!
I know I cannot be wave world champion at 30 yrs of age – I have to move on. But I’m still going to compete on the PWA tour and do the odd freestyle event. I have a photographer travelling with me and working with my sponsors, i.e. they give me money to get photos and then use them for their marketing.
How do you look back on your windsurfing career so far?
Becoming a pro windsurfer wasn’t what I wanted to do, it just evolved. Between 20-30 it’s the time of your life. You can do what you want, you have the time to do it so I thought – why not? My parents weren’t so keen especially when I quit my job and didn’t have enough sponsors to support myself. But now they are proud of me. I lived in Sweden 30km from a lake that was icy for 4/5 months of the year. I had no sponsors, no results, sailed in crappy conditions and still made it – that’s what I’m most proud of.
source:www.boardseekermag.com