Þorlákshöfn is a working harbour an hour from Reykjavík, and the point breaks just along from the wall. Rock underneath the whole way, which puts it out of reach of a first week and makes it the steadiest wave on this coast for everybody else.
It wants a southerly swell and a westerly wind, and the headland gives it some cover from the south-west, so it stays surfable on days the open beaches have gone to pieces. It is the more reliable of the two: over the same week it will give you more days than Sandvík, without giving you bigger ones.
The water is what it is everywhere here, 6 to 12 °C: a 5/4 with a hood, and a 6/5 in January.
You will have it to yourself even when it is good. Fishing boats going out, steam off the harbour, and a wave that keeps coming: that is the whole of a morning here, and it is enough.
Spot sheet
- Level
- Intermediate, Advanced
- Wave
- Right
- Bottom
- Point break
- Water
- 6 – 12 °C
- Wetsuit
- 6/5 mm + hood → 5/4 mm + hood
- Swell window
- SSE – SSW
- Ideal wind
- W
- How often it works
- Very consistent
- Crowd
- ●○○○○
- Danger
- ●●●○○
What to watch for
- Rocks
Technical figures read off published surf guides. Where two disagree, the sheet says so.