Debate over surfing in German park gets gnarly after city removes wave-creating device
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FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — A debate over how to bring back surfing in Germany’s landmark English Garden escalated on Sunday after city workers removed a beam surreptitiously deployed over Christmas to restore a surfable wave in the river that runs through the park.
For years, the site had been a hot spot for surfers and spectators because of the meter-high (three foot-high) wave created by the strong current of the Eisbach river. But the wave disappeared in October after city workers cleared away accumulated sediment, gravel and debris from the riverbed. That set off discussions between the city and the surfers on how to restore the wave.
The authorities were apparently not moving fast enough to suit at least some of the the surfers, who enjoyed several days of holiday surfing in wetsuits after unknown individuals deployed the beam across the river bed on Christmas Day. A banner on the adjacent bridge declared in English, “Just Watch. Merry Christmas!”
The surfers may have been stoked, but the city was not. The fire department moved in early Sunday morning, and the improvised structure and the wave were gone, the dpa news agency reported.
The city has urged patience and asked an engineering professor from the Munich University of Applied Sciences to advise on possible solutions.
Safety concerns became more prominent in May, when a 33-year-old surfer died after her board was caught underwater and she couldn’t free herself from the attached leash. The city’s climate and environment department said in a statement Sunday that the beam was “illegal and potentially dangerous.”
The department said that after the tragic accident earlier this year, “the city must not and cannot tolerate impermissible structures at the Eisbach wave.”
A Munich surfing association said on Thursday on its website that city authorities were imposing too many conditions on efforts to restore the wave and that the process has “stalled.”
A post on the IGSM surfing association website said that the city was imposing “ever more conditions and added demands” on the project, including indemnifying the city for any risks during a test period and procuring an engineering certificate that the adjacent bridge is strong enough to support fastenings to the wave device.
The association warns that the site “is not a wave for beginners and not a place to start with river surfing, even if one already has experience in the ocean.” It warns of concrete blocks placed behind the wave as brakes on the strong current: “These are dangerous for inexperienced surfers because in case of an uncontrolled fall one is pressed against them by several tons of water and gets off at best with serious bruises.”
Rules for use include being a fit, experienced surfer and using a breakaway leash.