North of the Arctic Circle, there is a surf shop in the most unlikely place. Unstad Bay only has 15 residents, but the place has waves.
Back in the ’60s, two surfers named Thor Frantzen and Hans Krane were most likely the first to venture out into Norway’s waves. For the most part, though, the waves there remained empty until the early 1990s. Even then, of course, there wasn’t much of a crowd. Kristian Breivik, a Norwegian surfboard shaper, rediscovered the bay and brought a handful of surfers from the area to it. They just so happened to time their trip perfectly with an incredible swell, and the place made its first real mark in surfing’s books.
This is the story of the world’s northernmost surf shop. It’s probably not the busiest place, but if there are waves, surfers will find them.
See more from Anders Melchior at Melchiormedia.no and on Facebook.
