Bernhard Ritzer: The Man Behind The Highland Open

Photographed here by Roger Sharp, this dude looks, at first glance, to be tending to the mean and moody. But a closer look reveals the hint of a wry smile and a calm, unflappable intelligence. Perhaps, indeed, this is an image of a man who knows he's done a good job, but whose inveterate modesty prevents him from making a song and dance about it.

Am I reading too much into a simple portrait? I don't think so, but I confess that having spent time with the man in question - Bernhard Ritzer, O'Neill's global event director - I have an extra insight into the man behind the Highland Open by Swatch.

If Ritzer was the type to blow his own trumpet, he would have ample reason based upon the Highland Open alone. O'Neill has hosted three Highland Opens since 2006, and each year, the event just gets better. This year's double overheard pumping surf at Brims Point will linger long in the memory, and Thurso East even came alive for the final day of competition. The swell Gods seem to be favourably disposed to Ritzer and the O'Neill circus, but who is the man behind the Highland Open?

Bernhard Ritzer has worked for O'Neill for 12 years, first as its marketing manager for Germany and then as the event manager for Europe. He stepped up to the role of global event director on 1 March this year. Born in Munich, Germany, Ritzer loves everything about the Highland Open.

"We will definitely be back on Scotland's North Shore next year, and for many years to come," says Ritzer, 40. "The experience of holding an event somewhere so different from all the other places on the Tour helps to make this event so special. At Brims especially, you feel as if you're on the edge of the world. It's a great feeling - to enjoy nature and be away from civilisation."

The enjoyment of nature has been dear to Ritzer since he was a small child. "I started skiing when I was three," he recalls, "and was racing by the age of seven." Ritzer added windsurfing to his list of sports at 12, and gravitated to snowboarding as soon as it hit the slopes. A quiet and thoughtful man, Ritzer has serious  pedigree as a snowboarder: "I was the German champion and competed in the World Cup in 1991," he says, adding that he "had a few top 10 world rankings but couldn't quite get to the very top."

At the same time as he was honing his snowboarding skills, Ritzer also studied a degree blending environmental technology, physics and chemistry. Back then, in his mid-20s, he says he "wanted to make the world a better place." Unusually among those who later move in the higher echelons of the corporate world, that desire still animates Ritzer today. He is sincere when he says that "I think a lot about what will happen to the environment and humanity over the next 50 years. One of the reasons I have so much respect for Jack O'Neill [O'Neill's founder] is that he wants to give something back to the surfing community. He wants to help preserve our oceans, without which there is no surfing."

To that end, Ritzer says that O'Neill is committed to a variety of initiatives to promote ecological awareness and foster a respectful enjoyment of the sea. In the UK, these include extending the remit of the O'Neill Surf Academy and taking surfing to the children of remote outposts such as Thurso. "We're looking at setting up schools to teach kids to surf for a day, for free, to give them a first impression of surfing. Even if they're messing about in small 1ft waves, they're still having so much fun - and engaging with the ocean."

Ritzer himself surfs - the Maldives are a favourite destination - though he confesses that snowboarding remains his first love. He still windsurfs and enjoys wakeboarding. A family man, the one thing he finds difficult about lengthy events such as the Highland Open is being away from his two sons, aged six and eight. "But getting into the mountains or the water with them is fantastic," he says.

What of the future? As O'Neill's newly appointed global event director, what does Ritzer have up his sleeve?

"The Highland Open is our signature event, without a doubt," says Ritzer. "It's the only genuinely mobile event on the Tour - we could have surfed in the Orkneys, if that's where the swell had been - and we've forged good relationships with the people of Thurso. We love coming here and experiencing a sense of Scottish mystery, the poetry of the highlands. The pro surfers love it, too."

But are there any other plans - perhaps an O'Neill event in Ireland, or another cold water big wave mecca?

An enigmatic smile plays on Ritzer's face. As he pauses, I'm reminded of what someone connected with the Highland Open had said, just before I sat down to talk to its chief strategist: "Bernhard is a genius. He puts all the right people in place and lets them get on with their jobs. He doesn't interfere and it all gets done."

Ritzer eyes me intently. "We hope to do more of this kind of thing," he says. Then he's gone, and that's all he saying. But watch this space. Bernhard Ritzer might just have a surprise or two up his sleeve.