Not Your Typical Surf Strike To Reykjavík

About 1,200 years ago, Scandinavian Vikings first landed in Iceland. The country had no indigenous population—a bummer when you’re dead set on pillaging and plundering. 

Go hunting slabs and points in Iceland’s nether regions today, and not much appears too have changed. It’s empty and inhospitable. Nobody’s coming to get you if you disappear out to sea. But somehow, when the volatile conditions do magically align, like the Vikings saw, there’s opportunity in the desolation.

In Red Bull Surfing’s latest installment of “Chasing The Shot,” filmmakers Mike Bromley and Ryan Meichtry document the frigid pursuits of resident photographer Elli Thor Magnusson and surfer Heidar Logi in the most remote Icelandic nooks and crannies. This isn’t just some novelty shoot outside of Reykjavík, it’s hardcore wave hunting in one of the most unforgiving environments on the planet.

And again, like the Vikings, when one explorer survives, a small colony can’t be far behind. The resident pioneers are joined by Conor Maguire, Natxo Gonzalez, Russell Bierke and Noah Wegrich on the quest. Nobody seems too concerned about the snow and ice or the vastness of an empty, roaring ocean. They love it like most of us less hearty surfers love a lazy day in the tropics.