A fragmented island cluster in the North Atlantic is home to some serious surf potential when wave height and period reach deep enough to trip over the sea floor. Perhaps the person in the photo above is admiring the calm channel that beckons him to the wave reeling across the way. Ancient mythology and science both allude to a more glorious past for the isles, before they took on their rugged, broken shape. But’s its the messy outlines that seem to give them...

There’s a new button in the upper left corner of this site, and it links to the new Arctic Surf store. Two items are currently stocked, t-shirts and notebooks. Down the road other things might be included as well, such as maps and zines. Any updates will be posted here.

This month we’re heading back to New Zealand. We’ll start near the top of the North Island and—if all goes according to plan—Shea Foley, Trevor Gammelgard, and myself will make our way down to colder waters. Follow @arctic_surf to see what happens.

1. There are a lot of remote, cold gems in New Zealand. Spots like this might take an hour of hiking to reach, but the desolate lineup makes the trek worth while.

Over the last few years we’ve periodically monitored a weather cam that overlooks a remote point. The break’s topography and bathymetry appear to be perfectly formed, at times resembling the curved cobbles of California’s “Rincon”. With their gazes intently fixed on the warm glow of their computer screens, viewers discovered that sometimes the wave is flat, sometimes it’s windy, and sometimes it’s going off.

1. A recent screen...

The word “fun” doesn’t exist in the Russian language, but Sergei was clearly enjoying himself. It was his military truck that had a shattered window. We were halted in a forest deep within the Kamchatka wilderness. As the rest of us crawled along the truck’s roof to examine our surfboards for damage, he looked up at the window and smiled.

1. Keith Malloy, Chris Burkard, Trevor Gordon, and Sergei examine a coastal map of Kamchatka.

We had spent the last week scouring the...

Much of Iceland’s coastline is accessible by road. That’s one of the reasons why surf coverage of the small island nation has recently multiplied.

But in this clip a group of surfers trek across the western part of Iceland—the fjord region—where there are no roads to the coast. Highlights include crossing a mountain pass during winter with surfboards strapped to a cargo sled. During the journey they discover a silver wave and a people that endure extreme...

When Ernest Shackleton’s boat crash landed on the western shore of South Georgia Island in 1916, his team faced an impossible scenario. They had reached the end of a journey through the world’s stormiest seas, and now the hard part was just beginning: a traverse across the mountain island’s completely uncharted interior.

1. An early Antarctic explorer faces the daily difficulties of living in the cold.

South Georgia Island’s west coast is...

Tremendous sea storms regularly descend on this remote coastal range. The mountains make land access impossible, yet they also protect a handful of small coves from wind, rain, and swell. Although these small sandy crescents hide in fjord-like inlets, they are not so deeply set that can’t receive swell.

1. The mountain forest wilderness has guarded this peak for thousands of years.

Groomed peaks break in glassy water, over shapely sand bars. The bars are triangle-shaped...

A lot of exciting stuff coming up this year. We’re planning more trips to strange places in coming months, and researching new cold surf zones. The first of these zones is out of an absurd dream: a mind-numbing stretch of repeating sand and cobble bars in complete isolation from the outside world. You could arrive with over 20 people, and everyone would have an a-frame peak to themselves.

1. Just around the corner, a lonely peak breaks in a lonely cove.

Plant-life...

Solo surf explorer Kepa Acero heads for Antarctica on January 4th, 2013. He will depart in a boat from Ushuaya, an Argentinian harbor town located on the edge of Tierra Del Fuego, in the Beagle Channel.

Over the years Kepa has explored and documented a variety of cold, remote waves from the first-person angle. Because of this unique approach, his videos have a genuine tone that conveys the spirit of surf exploration. He will spend two weeks in Antarctica. Whatever...