Visit our River-Surfing Image Gallery here.
River-surfing started in 1972 when Alexander Pauli and his brother happened upon the Flosslaende wave in the Isar River in Munich. As French Atlantic surfers, they immediately recognised the two to three foot swell as an inland miracle and baptised their boards in the waters.
Since then, German surfers have overrun the shores of the Isar, waiting for their turn to drop in on what is considered to be the best inland wave in Europe. Coincidentally, the second best wave, the Eisbach (literally ‘ice river’), is also located in Munich. And whenever the river floods in the spring, three or four more surf spots appear.
Officially, surfing is illegal in Munich, but it’s one of those victimless crimes like doing heroin or paying for sex that tend not to be enforced in Europe.
Being a river-surfer means being very patient. There is generally only room for one rider at a time, which means you spend a lot of time hanging out on the riverbank, waiting your turn. When your time comes, you take a running leap into the water and pump up and down the wave until you fall off.
Christian Schramm of Tide Surfmagazin is quick to point out the difference between river-surfing and surfing an ocean wave. ‘It’s not so difficult for an ocean surfer to learn river-surfing. It just takes time to learn that the wave does not push you forward, but instead always tries to pull you off.
‘You can tell immediately if someone surfs at the ocean. They have a different stance. For the Oktoberfest, we see a lot of foreigners: Aussies, Kiwis and guys from the US trying to do it.’
Yoyo Therhost is a pro surfer from Munich who now lives on the Gold Coast of Australia. ‘River-surfing comes quite close to the feeling of surfing on the ocean. You can do almost all the manoeuvres you can do in the ocean. Even airs.’
Schramm agrees. ‘Basically you can learn some moves. You can do airs and spins here and you can practice them easier since the wave is not so changing. It does change – less water, more water – after three to four days rain or in Spring when all the snow in the mountains is melting, it changes the power and the shape of the wave.’
Even for seasoned veterans, river-surfing can be dangerous. Okay, maybe these aren’t the shark-infested waters of the Pacific and there’s not much chance of shredding your skin on a coral reef, but the concrete below the water’s surface can be just as unforgiving. So you need to know what to do when you fall.
Nico Meisner is the owner of Munich-based Buster Surfboards. He doles out words of warning when I ask about river-surf lessons. ‘River-surfing is dangerous and the spots are limited. Most river-surfers are not interested in the prospect of there being more surfers. But very experienced surfers can learn river-surfing in about three days.’
Since the late 80s, people have experimented with shapes and material for the river-surfboards. At first, surfers like DeDe Wallauer and the South African Collin Petterson shaped special boards, inventing little modifications like the ‘powerdrive’ fin system. These days, companies like Buster and Diverse carry the torch.
Wolfrik Fischer is the owner of Driftwood Fins, based in Munich. ‘Normally you don’t need a center fin on the river because you cannot turn quick enough. On the other hand, if you are getting more speed and/or try to do special moves, you can lose stability on your board. So I constructed a new shape for the center.’
David Verrall shapes river-surfboards on the Australian Gold Coast. He has come up with a board shape that uses fins on both ends. ‘The design having fins on both ends allows a rider to flip direction when riding, for example to move from a top turn into a spin.’
River-surfing is a small but passionate clique. By anyone’s estimate, there are around two to three hundred river-surfers in Munich and scenes growing in Austria and Switzerland as well. Several times a year, there are organised river-surf competitions such as the Munich Surf Open with national and international ranking. The first international champion was an Australian by the name of John Vardon.
Bjorn Lob is a river-surfer and filmmaker. His Projekt: Keep Surfing is an homage to the Munich scene. ‘More and more spots are getting discovered and the sport is getting more and more popular. People are surfing rivers in Austria, Switzerland, France, Canada and South Africa now. If you keep your eyes open and search for it, you will definitely discover many more surf spots!’
Visit our River-Surfing Image Gallery here.