Last November, I drove with two Eisbach River locals (Tao Schirrmacher, former European river surf champ, and Patrick Toledo) from Munich to the River Le Doubs in France. It is a six hour drive and we arrived at the wave a good hour before sunrise. It was still dark outside — and in this region of France, dark means absolutely dark— but we could hear the wave. It was so loud: to get going, the river needs a certain amount of water to produce these 100-meter wide, head-high waves.
With the first light, the boys pulled on their wetsuits and we went to check the wave. For Patrick, it was the very first time seeing and surfing it; Tao had been there before and was the first one who jumped in. But Patrick soon followed. With each wave, the boys felt more and more confident. By dawn, Tao was pulling massive airs in the crisp clear air. We spent about 12 hours there, surfing and enjoying the French lifestyle with cheese and walnut sausages.
We decided to drive back the same day, so 24 hours later, I was back in Munich, where a pumping Eisbach was waiting for us. It was a lot of driving if you consider that this trip had nothing to do with proper ocean waves. But being a landlocked surfer you sometimes have to be creative to get into the water, no matter if it is salty or sweet…
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