“Look at this wave,” says Mathis Blache, pointing to the sea from the shore’s black rocks as a swell rolls in. “It’s just perfect.” Despite air and water temperatures in the single digits, the 27-year-old student and surfer points out two other surfers – and a couple of seals – delighting in the conditions at Þorlákshöfn in south-west Iceland.
This spot, where surfers can enjoy either the midnight sun or the northern lights depending on the time of year, has in recent years become the heart of Iceland’s rapidly growing surfing community.
As well as being one of Iceland’s only accessible point breaks (when wave swell strikes a point of land), it boasts unique scenery – the backdrop features several volcanoes – and consistently good waves. With its close proximity to Reykjavík, it has become a destination for locals, professionals and tourists alike.
Chris Burkard, the photographer and director of the documentary Under an Arctic Sky, describes it as the “perfect point break” and says in many parts of the world it would be considered “near sacred”.
But just a few metres away from the wave, the sight of diggers and piled-up rocks are a reminder that this surfing haven is at imminent risk of being taken away.
Under plans approved by the municipal council on Thursday, the neighbouring harbour is to be expanded so that it can accommodate ships of up to 200 metres long, which could be used for cargo ships, passenger and cruise ships.
Devastated surfers have vowed to take legal action against the plans, which they say would permanently destroy the surfing potential of the beach. A petition to save Iceland’s “best surf spot” has attracted thousands of signatures. “We have not given up and will fight until this is stopped,” said Brimbrettafélag Íslands, the surfing association of Iceland.
The association claims that landfill work has already started without approval, which they say has already had a negative impact on surfing conditions. Elliði Vignisson, the mayor of Ölfus, the district in which Þorlákshöfn town sits, says this was down to a “misunderstanding between the contractor and the project manager of the port, which was corrected immediately”.
The association is calling for a solution that would enable both the harbour to be expanded and the wave to be preserved.
“We base our culture of surfing in Iceland around this location; it would not exist without it. It will die without it. So we are very worried and devastated if these plans go through,” says Steinarr Lár, the association’s chair.
The association started as three people 20 years ago and has since grown to 600. Improved wetsuit technology has meant they can now viably surf in Iceland all year round. As well as Iceland’s consistency – it is possible to surf about 150 days a year across all tides and wave sizes – the conditions of the bottom of the ocean also help make it special, says Lár.
The harbour expansion plans ignore the potential cultural and economic benefits of the surfing economy, he adds, comparing it to the public reaction to Iceland’s flyfishers in the early days of the sport. “It would be absolutely devastating to us if this wave would be bulldozed over, literally.”
Lár, whose five daughters surf (including his youngest, who is two years old), says the plans are in “the interests of the few”. He adds: “It looks to us as if they are increasing the land for the miners in the town.”
“No mining company has ever expressed an interest in using this new berth for their operations,” Vignisson says, but admits an existing mining company “used the old mooring edge” and “will presumably use the new one”.
Elín Kristjánsdóttir, a surfer and business co-owner from Reykjavík, said she has surfed around the world but that Þorlákshöfn is her favourite wave, adding that the community around it has grown enormously in recent years. “There is no other place in the world I can find such serenity and being in the moment than in the Arctic waters. I truly hope that this wave gets to be.”
Emerging from the water at Þorlákshöfn with his surfboard, Oliver Hilmarsson, who has been surfing there for 30 years, says the authorities risk “taking away a hobby from a generation in Iceland”.
The 48-year-old, who works for the Icelandic meteorological office, says he has yet to surf under the northern lights but has done so under a full moon. “Oh, the waves are getting bigger,” he says hopefully, eyeing the sea, before disappearing to go back in.
