When you run an accessories brand, testing wetsuits is all part of the game, and when it comes to your photoshoot you need to find another kind of paradise! Julien Salles and the crew from Manera head to Iceland to get cold and get the shots they need...

Paradise is often pictured as a deserted tropical island, a private and mysterious place that exudes comfort and warmth. Every kitesurfer dreams of coconut trees, blue lagoons, sunshine and a warm breeze. Except, we've landed on a completely different island: Iceland. 

We thought there would be just as much to discover on this remote island as there is on the deserted and exotic beaches you see on postcards. We were looking for thrills and wanted to reconnect with the feelings of our beginnings, feel that pure pleasure again that only kitesurfing can bring. Travelling far to the North, getting out of our comfort zone, and exploring new lands with a truck full of equipment seemed like the perfect ingredients for an adventure.

We found a very different paradise.   

It's not always easy in Iceland; you'll have to put up with its fickleness. But if you have the patience to endure incessant rain, extremely high humidity and very low visibility for days, it'll be totally worth it.

Choosing the far north for a kite trip was a risky decision: the wind, wave, and weather conditions are very hazardous, constantly changing, or just non-existent. It's a game of chance, and when you win, you need perfect logistics to make the most of it. To succeed, we had two RVs and a utility vehicle filled with gear to follow the best conditions throughout the island.

This is the kind of trip that demands the right kind of people to make it work. We had riders who shared our vision of travel, adventure, kiting and life in general. Pauline Valesa, David Tonijuan, Mallory de la Villemarque, Etienne Lhote, and Camille Delannoy were chosen to join us on this adventure. Of course, all of them had to be prepared for the frigid waters of the Icelandic coastline!

We will also have local support through Ingo. I met Ingo on one of my first trips to Iceland. He and his "Arctic Surfers" team have lots of experience guiding riders from around the world in the Icelandic conditions. He's a surfer, snowboarder, and became a good friend of mine.

After a four-hour flight, we arrived in Keflavik in mid-afternoon. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, but the temperature was topping out at around 7°C. We got the vehicles, bought survival necessities of food, water and beer and set off to the first spot, where I heard a good session was already looking promising... 

Mallo said:

"We loaded the RVs with provisions for a few days, and Julo (Julien Salles) thought there might be a beautiful SUP session not far from the airport. It was Ingo, our local guide, who told him about the spot. It was lucky because we couldn't travel too far from the airport as David Tonijuan was arriving at 2 am.

We drove there. The first landscapes were fantastic, much like Fuerteventura or Cape Verde, but about 20°C cooler! We arrived at a deserted spot at 10 PM; the sun was already near the horizon. Time was running out! Beautiful little golden lines entered the bay, five knots offshore, with perfect waves and nobody around. The moment we'd been waiting for: our first ride in Iceland!

We hadn't even finished mounting our fins when Etienne already started running, SUP and paddle in hand. Born in Britain, he is used to such conditions. As for Pauline, who lives in New Caledonia, Camille, who spends half the year in Brazil, and I, who still hold on to my Guadeloupe roots, we were all trying to block out the idea of falling in the water!

We put on all our gear: wetsuits, gloves, booties and hoods to reach Etienne, who was ripping the waves. Two hours and a good thirty waves later, the sun barely touched the horizon. We realised that we did have plenty of time. Here the days are very long and provide about 22 hours of sunlight.

I was the last to leave the water. I turned to see the beauty of the landscape and the vastness of the place, and I felt happy. Nothing better than sharing good waves with some friends and a curious seal at the other end of the world. We finished the day with a beer in front of an endlessly setting sun. All that was left to do was get David from the airport. This trip was already shaping up to be rather special. Welcome to Iceland, guys!"

This first session was just magical: just the four of us in the water, sharing a beautiful experience under the endlessly setting sun. I was afraid of how our team members would react to the cold; most of them have never even worn gloves or neoprene hoods... However, after seeing their smiles and shining eyes, I was immediately reassured! We headed to pick David up at the airport late at night, and on the way back, around 3 AM, we were treated to a magnificent "sunrise." It's a great feeling to no longer be limited and bounded by night; you can do anything, and at any time. It's an incredible feeling of freedom.

We woke up on the second day to travel to the south of the island, with a beautiful drive ahead of us. The weather was stunning; there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. I wondered when it would all turn around, and I hoped it wouldn't be too soon. The road was flat and very straight, with the ocean on our right and a massive cliff on the left. We drove between landscapes that changed every 30 minutes: first we were surrounded by green fields, then only black sand beaches were in sight, then we passed between the lava formations. Several waterfalls were plummeting off the cliff to our left; some were massive. We could see the volcanoes and snow-capped peaks. It's a strange feeling to see snow before getting on the water.

This road took us to the great Icelandic glaciers of Vatnajökull and its collection of icebergs, enough to create a beautiful sight while kiting!

This time David got overwhelmed:

"Our plan was to drive down and explore the south of the island... But an enormous white wall on the horizon quickly distracted my attention. We arrived at the largest glacier in Iceland.

We couldn't just sit there and watch! We inflated our kites, took our fins off, then cruised, jumped, and slid between icebergs until the evening, and then we ended our day by swimming with the seals.

I had never seen such a place, let alone kitesurfed in zero degrees. It was a special moment that I will never forget. This was clearly not a beautiful beach with coconut palm trees; it wasn't warm, and the water wasn't turquoise, but I would say it was another kind of paradise.

We were getting ready faster than ever, eager to go and enjoy this huge playing field. The wetsuits, gloves and booties became our best friends!

Being surrounded by ice and walking on gigantic moving icebergs was probably one of the best feelings I've ever had in kiting. I know it was cold, but I didn't feel it. It was too exciting to even notice the temperature.

It was one of the best experiences of my life, and I am happy to have been able to experience the adventure."

It was extreme, and each one of us got to have one of the best experiences of our lives. We ended this session by grilling out with Ingo and his nephew, who taught us the refined art of wrapping bacon around hotdogs over the fire. We were in the middle of a valley at the feet of the highest volcano in Iceland. It was midnight, and the sun was setting. We held beer and hotdogs in our gloves. It was pure happiness.

The next day we decided to drive even further to the East to follow the wind. The weather was looking to be more extreme than the last few days; it’s going to get tougher.

We made a stop to ride at the bottom of the legendary Hofn cliff in low wind conditions. The weather is foggy, wet and cold (5°C), these were the typical Icelandic conditions that we expected. We set up camp in a bay surrounded by dark, high cliffs. In the middle, a group of wild horses were occupying the black sand, and the waves were breaking in this fantastic movie-like atmosphere.

We got into the water with a freezing and gusty wind blowing 15-20 knots; luckily the waves allowed us to have a little fun. We returned to the camper frozen exhausted. Still, another extraordinary session awaited us...

Pauline tells the story:

"That night, we were in a small Viking village. It was around 11 PM when we went to explore the area by foot. The setting was magical. On our left, huge cliffs dominated us while on the right; we could see the lagoons, the sea, loads of wild horses and even some Santa Claus reindeer.

After getting higher to set a better view of the sea, we realised that the waves looked clean and fun. We all wanted to get back into the water as soon as possible. In a few moments, we had made it back to the camp and quickly put on our wetsuits, gloves, hoods and booties to start a night session at midnight! It was like a dream in the middle of an incredible landscape at the foot of the cliff with the waves, the midnight sun, and only seal pups as company who were poking their heads out of the water every so often. We finished riding at daybreak, which was 2:30 in the morning! After this fantastic session, we made a campfire and sat around to eat and talk. There couldn't have been a better ending to a session than to share all those beautiful emotions which each other by the fire!"

Everyone still had a smile plastered on their faces when they came out of the water. Sharing the waves between friends in the dead of "night" like this in such an incredible landscape was crazy... These two days were full of incredible feelings.

The next day, the local conditions were forecasted to be atrocious, even by Iceland's standards. We wanted to return to Reykjavik a little faster, so we retraced our steps to get back rather than continuing to explore. After travelling for hours, we decided to sleep near a natural hot spring to warm up a bit. Everybody get into the water! What a pleasure to finally be warm, we were surrounded in a valley by waterfalls and were just a few meters from a frozen river. The water steamed like a bath because of the temperature difference.

In Iceland, almost every village has its own heated swimming pool. It's not expensive to get in, and we went in as soon as we could to get warm and also freshen up a bit. However, they are often outside, which makes getting from the changing room to the pool a little sporting, as you first have to run through frigid air that's about 6°C to get to the warm water.

We had to pass through Reykjavik the next day to get David's board bag, which hadn't made it on the plane with him. His bag had his bindings in it, so fair he had been using some old wakeboard bindings that Ingo had and kindly lent him. It was amusing to see the look on Mallo's and David's faces when they realised they'd have to kite with some retro bindings; freestylers are definitely a fashion conscious species!

Late in the afternoon, we went up north to find some wind. We knew there were good waves spots and some inland water lagoons that would be perfect for freestyle.

The next three days proved to be difficult because of the storm. We were stuck in the campers with incessant rain going horizontally because of the 35 knots winds. The waterfalls were blown by the wind, some even curved back toward the sky and one of the camper windows was blown off. In short, it was like the apocalypse. A flock of sheep even tried to throw themselves under our wheels; even they had enough!

We were desperately looking for a good spot and ended up scoring a beautiful strapless session in the waves right next to a typical small church.

Camille Delannoy was first into the water:

When we arrived at the spot, the wind was blowing around 30 knots; it was onshore with some small waves, perfect for strapless.

The place wasn't very welcoming; the water wasn't very inviting. It was very wild just like the rest of the island, with volcanic landscapes and many huge cliffs. To reach the spot, we had to go through a narrow passage to get to the water and then had to cross a river with a very powerful current. It was one of those sketchy sessions that only reward the brave!

We got into the water with Etienne and Julien, and it was a blast. In addition to the great conditions, the crazy landscapes made us feel like we were riding in a different world! It was amazing to share a session like that with them. To kite in this type of a place only with your buddies, it's just the best, what could be better? 

We kited for three hours in very tricky conditions surrounded by landscapes that you couldn’t see anywhere else. Regarding the water temperature, I haven't suffered from the cold at all, although the water was often less than 7°C. I was a bit nervous at first, but during the whole trip, the water temperature has never been an issue. In the end, being outside and getting changed out of your warm wetsuit was the hardest part.

It was a session that fitted right in with the rest of the trip: truly fantastic kiting, stunning backgrounds, shared with a great team and one that I'll never forget!"

The remaining time was spent playing cards looking out the window to see if the weather would improve. This was the price we paid on Iceland for having three days of sunshine when we first arrived.

Three days before we had to leave, we returned to the South to Sandvik, a spot near Keflavik, to find waves. This small bay of black sand is contrasted by a multitude of yellow bushes, and despite its proximity to civilisation, it's very wild. We could totally imagine a Drakkar full of hairy Vikings landing there. The rain didn't stop pouring, which meant it we spent 4 or 5 days with hardly any sun! We found some waves; there were even some lovely sets.

Etienne was very excited, as this was his moment:

"We were looking for waves. I wanted to breathe fresh air, see the horizon, and let go of the frustration of not having done what I do best: ride the waves. After a 6-hour drive, we arrived at the spot, which had offered us a beautiful surf session on the first day. The waves are there; it is 7°C, and the humidity is close to 200%. The wind was strong; I'm powered on my 7m.

A powerful beach break was crashing down onto the sandbar creating columns of black sand. After getting through some hazardous surf to get into the rhythm, I saw a shore-break that was erupting south of the bay. It was running aground in 20cm of water. I found my playing field. It was fast, and you had to be precise, this wave had a temper. The adrenaline rises, I had to be careful, stay constantly aware and keep my eyes constantly on the wave to be in the right place, the choices were instinctive.

These words describe the exact feelings of sought after challenges, which create a memorable session."

After two days of being soaked and cold while riding the waves in the small bay of Sandvik, we were exhausted. On the last night, we played cards in an RV, and everyone decided to join in. I still don't know how we fitted ten people around that small four-person table. We yelled, we cheated, we laughed out loud. Having just got more beers to refuel everyone, the card game was beginning to feel like a party. We were in the middle of nowhere but heard someone knocking at our door, "Come in..."

It was Ingo who had come to visit us! What a surprise it must have been to see ten people crammed in there!

On Friday, the 9th day, the trip came to an end. It was time to return to Reykjavik to have a traditional dinner to celebrate the end of this adventure. It was good to eat something other than pasta, sandwiches and chips, and to taste some traditional dishes: "Hákarl " was especially memorable: made out of shark that is fermented and dried for several months, Icelanders serve it with a shot of their local Schnapps to cancel the very pronounced Ammonia aftertaste.

What a good way to start the evening! The night became the source of many stories that unfortunately can't be told in magazines. It ended when the day came to a close (yes, still no night!), then we all had a well-deserved opportunity to sleep late in the RVs (for those who managed to find their way back to them!)

We boarded our flight exhausted, but happy. We were all looking forward to sharing what we had experienced, these unique and unforgettable moments that transform a simple trip into a once in a lifetime experience. We could feel that sense of excitement and joy that we had come here to find. It is both a human experience but also a great way to make the most of our passion for kiting. There were certain emotions that we, so used to kiting, couldn't seem to feel anymore after years of practice. It was exciting to find ourselves happy and amazed just like kids again.

Paradise is not only sunshine, coconut palm trees, and lagoons. There are other paradises. We do not necessarily have to choose a trip between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn; there is a whole world that awaits us that is just waiting to be explored, exposed, kitesurfed.

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MANERA - VALHALLA
By Julien Salles

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