ICELAND CALLING
THOMAS TRAVERSA – “This whole crazy mission started with a trip to Iceland in late September, less than a week before Sylt’s PWA final. I first travelled to this exceptional country in 2012 with my wife Sophia and Jules Denel. We had great weather and amazing conditions that allowed us to camp and sail 4 or 5 times at different spots in the south of the island. We had also explored on the coast and inland, to see what this country had to offer to us ‘curious’ travellers. Iceland is incredible with waterfalls, lots of potential windsurf spots, glaciers, geysers, hot springs and the beautiful city of Reykjavik. It was a great trip that ended with the discovery of a surf spot that seemed to have a lot of potential for windsurfing, given a decent swell and the right direction of wind. Jules and I decided that we should return to Iceland to ride this wave, and for 5 years we have been on stand-by every summer, ready to try our luck when the opportunity would arise. Located in the north of the Atlantic Ocean, this huge island, a little round and very volcanic, is regularly swept by strong and changing winds, and almost all Atlantic swells end up hitting its shores. The problem is knowing when and where to go! I have never seen a place where the weather changes so regularly, and with the coastal effects created by the mountainous terrain it becomes a real headache to plan a trip more than 3 or 4 days in advance.
When we saw how the forecast for the third week of September was shaping up, Jules and I began to look at the possibilities of a flight, unsuccessfully sought a photographer to accompany us, and continuously studied the local weather maps because we were worried about the rain. On Friday we booked our tickets and on Sunday evening I met Jules in the arrival hall of Keflavik airport, as well as Sylvain Bourlard, a windsurfing friend from the north of France to whom I’ll hand over the rest of the story from our Icelandic adventure.”