An Arctic Surf
There is something very unsettling about packing , unpacking, repacking your camera gear at 2am on a Bristol November morning. It could have been because I have never taken a lot of camera gear aboard before or I hadn’t met the 3 guys I was going with (they are all bosom buddies) maybe that I was about to jump on two planes, a ferry and a car journey across a land that was a cocktail of Mordor and Dartmoor to throw myself into the cold(er) side of the North sea, the Arctic ….or just the fact…it was 2AM!
This trip came along when I signed up for a ‘Surf Photography Workshop’ that world-renowned Surf photographer Tim Nunn runs a couple of times a year for photographers wanting to ‘up they’re game’ in and out of the water. Alas, through injury Tim couldn’t make it so it ended up with myself ( taking snaps) Jamie Gatley ,Nick Rees and Adam Parsons (in the snaps) Luckily I fell straight into a group of Men(?) that shared the same ‘high-brow’ interests as myself. facial hair, cous-cous and taxidermy…oh and surfing!
Arriving at our accommodation ‘Unstad Arctic Surf ‘ in the village of Unstad, on the Lofoten Islands; Norway 17 hours after leaving Bristol we couldn’t have been more happier. We had our own awesome cabin which slept 10 so we had enough room to make it messy with all our gear…
Unstad has a SW through to NW facing beach break which has 2 rocky point breaks, one to the North and the other to the South so something for everyone! It is the most consistent break in the island chain that makes up Lofoten. Surfing was first discovered here in the early 60’s. At that time, the Beach boys were on all top hit lists and the only outline of a surfboard they had was the cover of the album ‘Surfin´Safari ‘from 1962. So the local crew made their own surfboards from this cover. These boards can be seen at Unstad. It wasn’t till the 90’s when local Viking ( I’ve met him, he is..) Kristian Breivak rediscovered the bay. At this time, there were only a few surfers in Norway and they were all located around the Stavanger area. Kristian moved to Stavanger and talked so much about these fantastic waves north of the arctic circle. One day they gathered a small team and headed up to see what all this chat was about. They scored, big time!
First day we had a SW swell direction so the boys surfed the right hand point on the north side of the beach and I photographed from the rocks above. It was a strong, offshore wind, gusting 30-40mph but the powerful, head-and a-half monsters weren’t letting that stop them! lines setting the boys up for a good 3 hours with very little difference with the tide. Surfed alone (beach roughly the size of Croyde) with a Seal and a load of cormorants. It rained all day….
Got down to Unstad beach which is next to our lodge and the most consistent break in the region. SW swell direction - cross/offshore wind - gusting 30-40mph. Head and a half high. Entered the water from the rocks from the north side of the beach and surfed a right hand point break, breaking over shallow Kelp covered rocks. Surfed alone with a seal and a load of cormorants. The beach was about Croyde size and with only 4 of us in! It rained all day!
Stayed at Unstad again as its been pumping all day. Still super windy and rainy though! Morning surf at north of the beach where it had faces of 15ft I reckon! The boys got a few barrels in. Def double overhead on a few, and super chunky! BEAUTIFUL! I got in with my GoPro to try out my new KNEKT trigger and dome port. The only thing this place has in common with other spots around the world is the water is wet. Bobbing around in this crystal, deep blue cool water surrounded by the shadows of mountains literally ‘coming out of the water’ weather of biblical temperament and wildlife that I had only thought existed in ‘Jurassic Park’ taking pictures of guys flying towards me in states of euphoria. It was definitely a ‘higher-power’ moment. Got out after a few hours had some food then went back in at the south of the beach to surf the point there. I have never seen wind like it! The guys said they couldn't see anything on the take off because of spray!I Shot from the boot of the car, thought the thing was going to roll! Highlight was a French girl, Mee-Mee, who is an instructor at the surf camp. Paddled out passed the boys, (who had enough rubber on to survive a front on nuclear attack!) on a FLOATY, no hood or gloves and completely cleaned up! Couple of South Africans rocked up, never seen surfing like it, definitely pro standard. Wind dying off to 20mph tomorrow which apparently is good?!?! Going to try head somewhere else. It carried on raining..
Headed up the coast to Delp to change it up a bit. The spot is north facing and needs a big west swell to get up there. The boys scored it good with a westerly swell, 10ft@13seconds with a light southerly wind. surfed this place for approx 3 hours, oh and those saffers that I mentioned, low and behold were there! Not only that, one of them, Steve ‘stezzy’ Sawyer is ranked WSL 49th and SA longboarding Champion whilst the other, Shannon Ainsleigh is a pro-surf instructor/mentor and SHARK ATTACK survivor! The pair of them were absolute jems ! That evening we went and watch Steve play an acoustic set in a local bar which he nailed, obviously! ( not jealous much) I bought his CD for my mum…..
Decided to go for a hike today. I say hike, It was a small mountain that we had to traverse with none of us having any real 'mountain walking' experience other than wearing North Face jackets and going to climbing walls ( I don't even do that). I think we did a good job! Even if Adam was dressed like he was going on a night-out and I had the worst sprained ankle I think I have ever had.... "Lets go for a little walk shall we? We’ll surf later" ........ 9 kilometres and 1000 ft later we made it, apart from not being able to tweet or get a good latte at the summit I was pretty chuffed! We didn't surf.Later that evening my mate James from Bristol turned up with a mate at our lodge (as you do, passing by in the Arctic like) and joined us for dinner. Later that evening we had our first taste of the Northern Light’s which blew our MINDS!!!!! 6 lads running ( me hobbling) around a field shrieking with delight annoying James to lend his camera gear (he brought a small 'Jessops' store with him)
Last day so Mee-Mee ( French surf instructor empress ) took us to Kvalvika where the film ‘North Of The Sun’ was made. We hiked in, surfed, had a bonfire, hiked out, saw more northern lights ( yawn ) got back to the surf lodge where the camps owner, local shredder Tommy had prepared a traditional outside Norwegian Hot-tub….the whole thing was very, very, VERY cool! ( bordering on ‘Hipster’ but know one has to know that..)
Went back to Bristol
