Iceland is polarizing. If you spend 12 days on the island covering 2,400 kilometers (nearly 1,500 miles) with surfboards and wetsuits in tow, you’re either a die-hard local or a traveling pro surfer who needs a change of scenery.
Sometimes I wonder if these cold-centric trips are more about novelty than quality waves. But after logging many miles, getting the van stuck more than a handful of times and lowering core body temps by changing in the snow, the last section in Nic von Rupp’s trip to the island with Maui surfers Albee Layer and Annie Reickert proved to be a legitimate envy-inducing wave. Could do without the gloves and ice cream headaches, however.
The barreling a-frame more than satisfied the crew. It turned out to be a challenge. Nic got fully worked, while Albee, despite claiming that punchy, barreling beachbreaks are his favorite type of wave, lights the joint up, hitting sections and making tubes in both directions. “Maui doesn’t barrel,” Albee said. “That’s why I freak out when I get barreled. It’s either Jaws or this giant slab. I never get ‘fun’ barrels. If there is, there are 100 people out at Honolua, and I don’t surf that.”
Related: Meet the Surfing Explorer Who’s Helped Uncover Iceland’s Epic Waves
While the surfing is enjoyable, I found the most compelling part of Nic’s vlog is the banter between him and Albee. It is laugh-out-loud funny, maybe even podcast-worthy. The two big-wave surfers have such different approaches in their output. Nic’s a savant at towing Nazaré, a successful vlogger and openly documenting waves across Europe and beyond. Albee, by contrast, prefers to pack the biggest Jaws barrels by hand, sit on footage, and create memorable surf videos
And yet the two of them side by side are hilarious. Whether it’s laughing at Nazaré, fashion choices, vlog shots, or unnecessary inflation vests, their verbal jousting deserves another round.
Related: Man Obliterated by Wave at Iceland’s Deadliest Beach (Video)