This October saw cold water adventurer and Fox Surf team rider Josh Mulcoy hit ice-cold gold in Iceland. Josh’s trip, which was featured on Surfline, included Friends of Fox Timmy Turner and Sam Hammer.
Throughout their respective careers, all three surfers have established reputations for braving harsh conditions in search of perfect surf.
Good thing wetsuit technology has evolved by such large leaps and bounds since the first suits hit the market in 1953.
These days, at frosty surf destinations like Iceland, 6 mm of high-tech neoprene allows surfers like Josh Mulcoy to survive and thrive in potentially deadly cold water temperatures (hypothermic water temperatures are generally considered anything below 50 degrees Fahrenheit).
On this trip, the crew went feral, using tents as their prime living quarters, camping on Iceland’s rugged coastal slopes while scoring insane surf.
Perfect ice-cold walls of water didn’t materialize too easily, Mulcoy and crew weathered nature in all her intense glory, including snow, strong winds, and freezing nighttime temperatures using thick jackets, campfires as well as proper sub-polar tents, and sleeping bags.
They surfed heavy slabs, walked on glaciers to surf river mouths fed by melting glacial waters, scored quality reef breaks, and relaxed in hot geothermal baths.
The Icelandic coast, blessed with a wide-open swell window, produced waves ranging from shoulder-high to a couple of feet overhead.
This Iceland trek, beautiful but no cakewalk, tested the endurance and composure of the three experienced surf nomads.
Since it is doubtful that even those powerful Norse warriors of old ventured willingly out of their sea-going vessels into frigid Iceland waters, Mulcoy quite possibly could have put the ancient Vikings, history’s widely trumpeted manly men, to shame this October.