Interview Frode Sundsdal 26 March 2010
PowerboatPro was in the fortunate circumstance to meet Frode on Skype while he had the time to sit down. This highly energetic Norwergian is usually making his way with big steps thrue the powerboating scene. We had the chance to breath, sit down with Frode and get some insight into his perspective on things.
Frode Sundsdal was born in Songe Norway on August 5th 1971. Although Frode spends a lot of time traveling and has a girlfriend in the USA, he still considers Norway very much his homeland. He now resides in Arendal, the beautiful coast town where Class 1 have their Norwegian Grand Prix.
Frode has a very broad experience in powerboat racing. He has been racing in different classes since 1986. With eight world speed records, a three-time world champion, a European champion, Scandinavian champion and an eight time national champion, he is part of a very strong result list.
Apart from racing boats, Frode is also involved in organizing the sport. Since November 2008 he is the president of the Norwegian Powerboat Federation, and is also directly involved in the development of the F2 World Championship.
Apart from the sport, Frode makes his living in the oil industry where he is a technical drilling instructor for National Oilwell Varco. When we asked him about his work, he has to admit that some personal circumstances have kept him off the job for the past several months. But, when working, he is a technical drilling instructor is for a technical college, mostly for people who already hold a job at Varco. The colleges, which are three, soon to be four worldwide (Aberdeen, Houston, Kristiansand and Dubai soon to be opened) teach people to handle the equipment for the oil industry and its affiliated maintenance and service.
Working for an American oil drilling company combined with his racing career means that Frode has to spend a lot of time on the road. When we asked him how that affects his social life, Frode said that he really likes the social networking sites that are booming right now. In the old days you would have to call people separately or pay them a visit. Now you can post a status and all your friends get to react online. In this way, Frode says, it is possible to stay in touch with all your loved ones. It makes the travelling a lot easier. “In my travelling it is also nice to be able to mix business with pleasure. When abroad, I go to social functions or parties that are related to the powerboat community,” Frode said.
Social media are not only useful, they are also one of Frode’s hobbies, together with doing the exercises he needs to do to keep fit for racing. Another thing Frode wants to accomplish is getting powerboat racing back as a hobby. In the past years that Frode raced, he was so consumed that although he never stopped loving the sport, it turned more into a job. Now he wants it back as a hobby. Let there be no mistake about it though, Frode races to win. An illustration to Frode’s will to win is a classic Sundsdal family story. At age 13, Frode gave his mum a note, asking her to give it back to him when he turned 18. Sure enough, at his 18th birthday, mum gave the note to Frode and it stated: “Before I turn 18, I will be a world champion.” At that time, Frode had become a world champion for the second time the week before.
Frode also has a very strong conviction about racing with material that can make him a champion in the class he chooses to race. Coming second or third is out of the question. If he cannot race with the material he desires, Frode will just as easily not race for a season to get it right for the next.
Asked for his greatest achievements, Frode says there are many. He says it is always that first taste of gold that will be most memorable. First time national champion, European champion, and world champion. All those results Frode caries at heart. He also states there are no real setbacks or challenges in his racing career. Just things one has to cope with. As a big challenge to overcome Frode realized that powerboating in Norway was not a very big sport, like cross-country skiing is for instance. So there was no real system with a team, a coach, technical staff and a manager that would facilitate Norwegians to compete on an international level. Frode all had to take care of that himself and get those people into place before he could take on the rest of the world.
Although powerboat racing is not a big sport in Norway the Sundsdal family history in racing goes all the way back to 1928 when his grandfather already started racing boats. Frode’s father picked up the racing from there together with his friends. This means Frode was born and raised in the pit and infected with the powerboat virus. As he states himself it is in his blood and it will probably never leave him.
2009 was a year that Frode took it easy on the racing. He just raced the Norwegian National Championships and a few World Championship races in the Formula 2 World Championships. 2010 will be a much busier year which will see Frode working hard to get a seat in Class 1. Frode is determined to be racing in the Class 1 Norwegian GP in Arendal in July of this year.
Away from the racing but staying with the boats, Frode is also the president of the Norwegian Powerboat federation. For his period so far at the helm of that association, Frode is most proud of the coming together again of the Norwegian Powerboat Association and the Offshore Association, which had been split off for 5 years. For this achievement Frode was rewarded the silver medal for outstanding achievement from the U.I.M. (powerboat’s governing body) in 2009. As Frode could not have done this alone, he dedicated his medal to all people involved in Norwegian powerboating. For 2010 Frode hopes it is going to be a year the Norwegian federation can be equally proud of. There will be GP 30 junior racing coming in to Norway which Frode is delighted about and there will be more racing going on than ever before. As his main focus as a president, Frode will have to facilitate local powerboat clubs to have their races and grow their number of members.
Educating the powerboat world and educating the world about powerboating is another job that Frode sees as important in his role as president. Educating the powerboat scene about the environment is of the utmost importance and Frode is very proud that the U.I.M. was able to take a leading role to together with F.I.A. and F.I.M. (governing body for car racing and motor racing respectively) to organize a seminar about environmental consciousness in racing. The cooperation between governing bodies let to the catch phrase: ‘yes we care’ -which is now used in all three racing worlds.
To lead well is to lead by example and Frode is again proud that the local Norwegian organization that organizes the Class 1 World Championship race in Arendal Norway is miles ahead of the promises they made to the (local) government and environmental pressure groups where it concerns caring for the environment. For instance, the footprint analysis for Arendal shows that a Class 1 race is not as polluting to the environment as a big rock concert would be. Those are conclusions of scientific research that even astounded Frode. Together with Frode, we here at the powerboatinfo portal will soon have those materials available to whomever it may concern.
Being a higher risk sport than average, Frode is well aware that safety in the sport is a priority for him in his role as president and delegate to the U.I.M. Last year’s tragic loss of Jean-Marc Sanchez and Mohammed Al Mehairi made that painfully clear. “It is in their spirit” Frode says “that we keep the discussion about safety in the powerboat sport going. We are proud to announce that in this year’s Class 1 race in Arendal, Norway (16 – 18 July red.) we will have one of the biggest safety seminars the sport has ever seen. We will bring together the best people in the business to jointly go forward bringing together best practices and share experiences. From this seminar the president of the U.I.M., Dr.Raffaele Chiulli, has demanded that safety action plans for 2010 and 2011 will come into place for all teams, clubs and organizers involved in powerboat racing”.
Frode also thinks that being front runners in the area of safety and the environment will help grow the sport and take away some of the misconceptions that live in the world. Apart from those two subjects, Frode thinks a number of things have to happen simultaneously to grow the sport. First of all, Frode thinks that what has happened in Norway has to happen in more areas- that the sport further unifies rather than divides itself in more governing bodies and racing classes making a split from national organizations. Frode is a strong believer that national bodies should be leading in organizing powerboating events and with them, the local powerboating clubs. Events in powerboating need to meet world-class standards and be held at world-class locations and at ports of interest. Frode hails the Class 1 initiative where they will race in Rio de Janeiro in their season opener. When this all comes together, media attention will grow, spectators and our fan base will grow, and that in turn will increase sponsorship possibilities. In building audiences for powerboating Frode also sees big opportunities in the Internet and creating an online audience that is still untapped.
So, there is a lot of work to be done, but Frode never was a man to kick off his shoes and watch the grass grow. This highly energetic and driven man believes that there will be a strong future for powerboating globally. And he wants to be a key player to help make sure it happens.
For more information on Frode, F2 racing and Class1 racing and the sport’s governing body, please also visit:
