Mongol Saga Episode X – Surfing the river wave in Munich, Germany
Surfing the Eisbach is technically illegal, but tolerated by local authorities. Photos by Will Parson
With the Mongol Rally a week and a half behind me and already feeling so far away, it’s time to fill in the gaps of the story I wasn’t able to fill in on the road, due to the limitations of being on said road.
On day three of the rally, we hit Munich on foot. After craning our necks upward at the turn of six o’clock just to watch the famous Glockenspiel tick silently away (the figurines danced at five), we walked the pathways through the vast grass of Englischer Garten. Meandering until we hit the Eisbach, a frigid man-made tributary of the Isar River, we eagerly laid eyes on the standing wave that has beckoned German surfers since the 70s. Basically, a fluke of engineering has seeded in Munich a unique landlocked surf scene.
Crowds of pedestrians press against the railing to watch the surfers hop onto the wave, one after another pinging from edge to edge of the small channel on the churning water for about a minute until the current overcomes them. They climb out of the freezing shallow water and trot back to get in line for another go.
After sunset, at a nearby beer garden, I pondered the one-of-a-kind surf spot over a giant liter mug of somerbier. When we made the long walk back to our friend’s apartment we passed the Eisbach again, and even past 10 o’clock at night there were a few surfers taking turns.
The next day Ryan, who had so dutifully held onto the surfboard he had brought as a novelty item from San Diego, decided he had to put it to good use. He borrowed our friend’s wetsuit, and I jumped at the chance to document his first attempt at riding the river wave. With a video camera in my left hand and my 5d to my eye I was trained on Ryan as he waited in line, approached the concrete at the edge of the water, hopped on his board, and promptly swept out of my viewfinder and down the Eisbach with the swift current.
A handful of tries later, Ryan had still not gotten control of his board. Not ready to give up, he tried and finally succeeded in riding the wave…for two seconds. It was then that his board snapped in half underneath his feet and he was swept away yet again.
Ryan snapped his board on the Eisbach after riding for approximately two seconds.
Duct tape fixed a variety of things on our trip, eventually adorning the inside and outside of our vehicle, but it just wasn’t meant to solidify a surfboard that had been ripped almost into two pieces. Nevertheless, Ryan was heartened by several layers of the trusty tape and gave the wave yet another go. This time his board actually did snap into two pieces. Downstream his head breached the surface as he lifted half his board in the air like a starched white flag of surrender. He found the other half still tumbling in the wave where he had fallen.
Surfer Gerry Schlegel is an Eisbach regular.
Waiting for Ryan to change back into his clothes, I watched the locals, including Gerry Schlegel, whom our friend pointed out has gained renown outside the Munich scene. Not without an expensive water housing would I get to document surfing from such a close vantage, and coming from San Diego where I can watch the surfers any time I want, I still felt extremely lucky. And when Ryan emerged, carrying his folded board like a giant club sandwich, I could tell that even he had no regrets.
Surfers are active at Eisbach even late at night, with the only light from the nearby street.
