Blair Conklin drops into Germany’s most famous wave. Photo: Blair Conklin // YouTube
There’s a lot of man-made standing waves out there. However, one river has the grandaddy of them all: the Eisbach in Munich, Germany. In his latest video, skimboarder and YouTuber Blair Conklin made a pilgrimage to try his hand at surfing and skimming continental Europe’s most famous freshwater break.
The Eisbach (German for ‘Ice-Brook’) is a 1.2-mile long man-made river that flows through the Englischer Garten, a public park located in Munich, Germany. The wave itself formed seemingly overnight in 1972, after the city submerged several concrete blocks under a bridge to block the river’s strong current. Though German surfers been shredding the man-made marvel’s year-round standing wave ever since, the practice remained semi-underground at first, as the break technically illegal to ride. However, the Eisbach finally when mainstream in 2010, when the city of Munich changed their stance and legalized surfing there. “It adds to the image of the city,” said Munich Environment Secretary Joachim Lorenz to German news outlet Deustche Welle, “We’re a cosmopolitan city that loves sports, and we’re proud to have what is probably the world’s largest urban surfing spot.”
As Blair Conklin has been on something of a European tour of late, the Eisbach was a natural location for the finless phenom to make an appearance. Among a crowd of local rippers and curious onlookers, Conklin showed off his trademark flair on a variety of foam and fiberglass craft. However, even he wasn’t immune to the perils of the fast, unforgiving rapid. After a spill sent Conklin flying down the river, all he could do was shrug and accept his fate. “I don’t know what happened, there,” Conklin wryly explained to camera, “We’re going downstream. This is what happens when you fall at the Eisbach.”
