Casper Steinfath, a 27-year-old from Klitmøller, has become the first ever person to cross the Kattegat on a paddleboard.
“It was a successful crossing because my balls are not on fire and I don’t have to go to the hospital for my private parts,” the six-time paddleboard world champ said on Instagram after completing his journey.
After three weeks of waiting and several close calls, Sunday was the day to cross the 123 km.
He left the Port of Grenaa at 80:50, and 10 hours and 53 minutes later he reached Bua in Sweden.
Last stretch
Steinfath really struggled over the last 10 km as the wind shifted and the swell fell. His legs were so tired that he could no longer stand up and he was stranded looking at the Swedish coast. “It looked so close, yet so far away,” he said via Instagram.
During the last stretch, he went back to basics. He lied down on his stomach and started paddling.
His coach was among those to welcome Steinfath at the Swedish border – they hasn’t seen one another for a year. To make the Swedish arrival complete, the team cheering for him on a boat turned on ABBA.
High on adrenalin
“It was not the finish that I dreamed of, but I stayed true to the adventurous aspect of it. It felt right. I fought until the end and I made it to Sweden,” said Steinfath.
“I’m pretty sure I’m living high on adrenalin, plus the beer I just had, but my body is close to shutting down. My legs feel like they are about to explode right now.’’
One of his last Instagram stories of the day was a picture of the boat taking him back to Denmark.
“Happy not to be paddling home,” he wrote.
Not new to the game
The trip across the Kattegat was the second stage of Casper Steinfath’s Viking Crossing mission.
He wants to cross all the seas around Denmark: the Kattegat, the Skagerrak and the North Sea.
In 2018, he crossed the Skagerrak: a trip of 138 km from Hirtshals in North Jutland to Kristiansand in Norway, which took him 18.5 hours.
