Surf Club Munich has announced that a months-long effort to restore Munich’s famous “Eisbach” wave is ending. The group cited excessive red tape and a lack of enthusiasm for the project on the part of the city government.
“The administration does not want to regulate surfing on Isbach, but rather to prevent it,” the association said in a statement. He pointed to “administrative hurdles” in his mission to bring back the wave after it disappeared in October during a routine cleanup process.
How did landlocked Munich become a surfing hotspot?
The Eisbach is a small tribute to the Isar River that flows through Munich’s famous English Garden City Park.
In the 1970s a series of concrete reinforcements beneath the stream led to the creation of a strong stream near a bridge in one area of the park.
Local surfing legend Walter Strasser has been credited in local media with coming up with the idea of placing a plank at a specific angle where the current was strongest, creating a wave large enough for surfing.
Over the years, Strasser and his wave gained more and more fame in the surfing community, and the area became a hotspot for the sport.
Earlier in December, Strasser told the local newspaper munich evening newspaper He tried to work with Mayor Dieter Reiter to restore the wave, but faced a dilemma.
He told the newspaper, “I have a lot of experience with Isbach. I know exactly what the problem is. I could have fixed it in a few weeks with very little funding.” “But the city told me they didn’t need me.”
fatal accident
Eisbach was also closed for two months following the death of a 33-year-old surfer in April. When his surfing line got stuck around his leg, he was pulled underwater and remained trapped underwater for about 30 minutes before rescue services could reach him.
The strong current prevented bystanders from coming to his help.
Although paramedics were able to revive him on the river bank, he died later the same day in a Munich hospital.
The incident was the first such fatality in Eisbach, and authorities called for a thorough safety review before the wave resumed in late June. However, no specific cause of the accident was ever found.
illegal reopening
The news that Surf Club Munich has abandoned its official efforts to reopen the wave comes just days after some surfers illegally set it back up with wooden planks and used it secretly during holidays.
But this construction was not permanent and officials have made it clear that surfing is prohibited for the time being.
Although Surf Club Munich has abandoned its study about reintroducing the wave on an ongoing basis, they said the debate will continue despite “becoming politicized”.
Edited by: Louis Olofse