Five kayakers preceded Hilleberg’s claimed Hornstrandir first

Swedish tent maker Hilleberg’s claim that German adventurer Michael Neumann was the first to kayak around Hornstrandir is inaccurate, mbl.is reports. At least five people had kayaked past the region while circumnavigating Iceland.

Three Icelanders completed the journey: Gísli H. Friðgeirsson in 2009, Guðni Páll Viktorsson in 2013 and Veiga Grétarsdóttir in 2019, who travelled anticlockwise. Two British kayakers were the first to kayak around Iceland, in 1977.

Hilleberg promoted Neumann’s summer expedition on its Facebook page this week, highlighting that his team used the company’s tents. The post described Hornstrandir as an uninhabited nature reserve with large bird cliffs and untouched wilderness, and said the team faced changeable weather from the North Atlantic.

The company used the English word “circumnavigate” to describe the kayak trip. The term generally means travelling all the way around something, but Hornstrandir is connected to Iceland, making a complete kayak circuit around it impossible. One photograph showed Neumann and a companion carrying their kayaks, prompting speculation that they may have crossed between fjords on foot.

The article was updated after readers pointed out Gísli’s 2009 trip and the British kayakers’ 1977 expedition.