Casper Steinfath’s SUP FOIL Viking Crossing 3.0: “A project just with Mother Nature and I”

Last week, the official waiting period for Casper Steinfath’s Viking Crossing 3.0 started! The multiple SUP Race world champion known as the Danish Viking has been on standby with his crew, patiently awaiting the right wind and wave conditions for me to attempt flying across the Kattegat ocean between Denmark and Sweden on a SUP FOIL. 

Casper tells TotalSUP how excited he is to embark on this new adventure and eager to jump deep into a new challenge after the two previous ones !! It’s a slightly different type of adventure than last time around with Skagerrak, but Casper looks forward to learning new things about himself and this legendary Nordic ocean in the process!

Hi Casper, so many months without seeing you or watching your SUP racing exploits, how have you been

Hi Matt! I hope life is well on your end. It’s been way too long since seeing you, and for that matter, EVERYONE else in the pro SUP world!
I’m really starting to miss life on tour competing, but I guess things have just been out of our control in that regard. Hopefully soon we can be back to somewhat more normal lives.

Please tell us more about your new challenge, the Viking Crossing 3.0 !

The project is a continuation of my Viking Crossing “Saga” where I aim to step in the footsteps of the great Vikings and attempt to cross, and learn a bunch about, some of the wild waters that they sailed on many years ago.
This time, I am testing myself on the other legendary Nordic ocean called “Kattegat” – and I am doing it on a SUP Foil downwind. The distance across is approx 110 km and I hope to become the first person to cross this on a foil.

When are you planning to launch yourself on the Nordic ocean?

The waiting period for this crossing runs from April 19 – May 31. Here in the North we are not blessed with the tropically stable tradewinds, but instead, have to closely study everchanging weather patterns to find the right conditions.
I expect the crossing to take 8 to 10 hours, so a stable wind forecast is essential.
48 hours before a day with a good forecast I will give the green light to the team and everyone else following. Live tracking and updates will be provided along the way.

Why are you attempting this crossing?

Even though I have personally enjoyed relaxing a bit during the past year’s corona break, I have been growing increasingly frustrated by all the things I can’t control in the world of SUP. Event cancellations, travel restrictions and other changes due to Covid have paralyzed many things for us professional SUP athletes. Therefore, a big part of my motivation with this project is doing something that I am (somewhat) actually able to control: A project just with Mother Nature and I.

My passion for this project comes from my basic desire to challenge myself and learn new skills. Foiling is fun to play with in the waves near shore, but it is also a great vehicle to cross vast distances. I am excited to embark on this new adventure and hopefully learn a bunch about my own limititaions, but also this legendary Nordic Ocean; Kattegat.

What’s your gear set up?

Here’s a recent video in which I present my full equipment

How have you been training for this challenge?

Hint: It involved all the airtime I could get AND some very tired legs…
When and if the wave energy stops, it all comes down to the amount of power left in my legs to pump and generate speed for the foil to fly. Ideally, I won’t have to pump this much, but figured I better be prepared. Pumping 100 km shouldn’t be a big problem… Right?

Video: Tue Nielsen

Is Red Bull supporting you again on this new adventure?

Together with Red Bull we are producing a short film documentary of the expedition. This will be for release sometime later this year. We will also be documenting the trip in photos and videos that will be shared simultaneously along the way.

When the crossing goes live we will have a live tracker (shared on TotalSUP) and regular updates on my social media pages along the way to make it interactive for the followers.

Stay tuned for more updates and fingers crossed the Viking gods send us some solid West or East wind soon!