Not entirely on topic here, but anybody surfed Iceland? I’m sure it’s not as popular a destination as Costa Rica or Bali … but just wondering. Hoping to afford a surf holiday after Christmas and looking at options.
I don’t mind a little cooler than usual as I’m from the Great Lakes and I surf with icicles hanging from my hood in January.
Billy
I don’t know about the surf, but the poeple are nice, and there are only around 250k total - about the same number that surf Cowell’s on a crowded day.
If you go, take pictures.
I’m headed to Costa Rica.
My sister a non-surfer went there on a foreign exchange trip she said if you want to expiernce the culture, go party till like 5 am come home wake up at 7 and go to school, She loved it there aside from the being light for only a few hours a day. she said the ocean was “F**king freezing” but the air was warm like 45degrees and that was cold for february, very very windy. If i were you i think fall once winter storm systems start moving across the atlantic would be pumping in swell and you could actually have light to surf. also the water should be at least marginally toastier. I am no wuss i surf jersey in winter, so i know what it’s like to be in the full survival kit.
The women outnumber the men, and are waaaay beautiful. They are the real descendents of the vikings - everywhere they plundered they took the most beautiful women – and they’re very straightforward. If you are on the swarthy side - italian, greek, hispanic, you’re in like flynn. (or something other than standard nordic variety, but those stand a good chance too). did you ever see the Sopranos episode where tony and his posse have a little party thing going with the Air Iceland stewardesses? Well, err, umm…
ruggedly beautiful landscape. good salmon/trout fishing.
I say GO!
Definitely go- there is surf and the place looks amazing. An older Surfer’s Path had an article I think. Read Lawrence Millman’s ‘Last Places’ before you go too- great book about traveling through the high north/viking islands. Take lots of pics as well!
Looks pretty tempting doesn’t it…
This was taken from one of the local surfers webpages.
actually looks warmer than the Great Lakes
pretty sure it is warmer, though still cold compared to hawaii or other tropical destinations
Hi,
I’ve always wanted to go there too, first of all it’s a great turist destination. But look at the map, it’s got a ‘fairly good’ swell window, it a (big) volcanic island which sure means alot of reefs and compared to any other volcanic island surf destination I think there is less of a crowding problem… Good people too.
I know there was a story about the surf there in a surfing mag, I know that some people fromaround here have surfed there, I know there are a few guys stationed at US military bases there that surf, and there is a guide to the surf there somewhere on the net(I can’t find the link though…) If I remember right there was quite a few shallow reefs and heavy currents with the tide on some spots.
Good luck.
regards,
Håvard
looks like they might get a little swell…
There’s a Surfer mag from 97/98 or so with an article on a trip to Iceland taken by Wingnut, Donovan Frankenreiter and a few others, if I remember correctly they found a really good pointbreak and no other surfers. Lots of rivermouths too apparently. I remember it well cause I read that article over and over again, they had to do a lot of searching but scored in the end. This was way before Google earth, though. I say go for it, if you don’t score waves at least you’ll get to visit an amazingly beautiful island with amazingly beautiful women.
just looking at that surf report made me drool
if the water was warmer… ice land would be heaven
I was stationed there for a year, best year I spent in the Corps. Only thing is that everything can be very expensive in Iceland, especially in Reykjavik. The Reykjanes peninsula (where the airport and NATO base are) is incredibly windy, probably averaging around 20-30 knots (no joke). Here’s a couple of pictures I took one day out on the peninsula, near Grindavik.
This was before I ever thought of surfing, but I do remember seeing good surf. It’s amazing how many missed opportunities one has in life. I love to surf now, but when I was stationed in Panama, Iceland, California, and Virginia, I never once thought to. I also love stargazing now, and crossing the Atlantic on a Navy ship with no lights on (light discipline), I saw the best, darkest skies you can imagine. The Milky Way was so bright you could do shadow puppets on the flight deck by its light. Those skies went almost completely unappreciated, as the only constellation I knew at the time was the big dipper…oh well.
The country is great, and the people are awesome. It is one of the few places on earth that you can be one ridge away from the main highway from Keflavik to Reykjavik and swear you are the first person to ever be there. Incredible (sometimes unearthly) scenery, and the statements about the women are very true. One of the best years of my life. Looking at real puffins near the edge of a 1000 meter cliff, seeing the separation of the tectonic plates taking place before your very eyes, and sitting in a hot tub on a frigid night looking up at the Northern Lights dancing above you…I like the place, wish I had another year to see more of it.
But if you go, bring a hefty travel budget. It is not easy to do Iceland on the cheap, if you are anywhere near the larger cities.
Here’s a site that may help:
http://www.geocities.com/surficeland/
JSS
is incredibly windy, probably averaging around 20-30 knots
Well I guess I wouldn’t get homesick there now would I? =)) We had a couple of storms come through here this year that were gusting to 55/60kt gales/storm force winds … makes nice surf once it backs off but until then – forget it – Edmund Fitzgerald-sinking kind of weather stay away …
I’ve surfed in 30kt onshores but it’s a pain unless you can find a break with a cliff or something blocking some of that wind. And the rips get treacherous. I got my board busted over my head on a day like this in July this year. Sucks it had to be the one that weighs 38lb … good thing I had some Advil and duck tape with or my session would have been over.
Well I’ll have to research this more closely … honestly I’d like to try Costa Rica, but I don’t speak any Spanish and that worries me. I could go back to Ireland … loved it there … haven’t surfed the West coast of it yet which I understand is the best.
But I’d still like to go to Iceland eventually regardless of surf potential … it just seems like a must-see …
Billy
FWIW EndlessWinter there is no need to speak spanish in Costa Rica.
Most of the hotels and restaurants are owned by North Americans.
If you find your self in one of the few remaining areas where english is not spoken
just learn a few key words. Cerveza, olas, playa…
You’ll do fine.