Riverbreak » stationary wave riding

New Project Takes River Surfing Indoors: What Are The Ecological Costs?

RB Team — Sun, 07 Feb 2016 10:27:18 +0000

One of Germany’s first indoor deep water standing waves, the “Jochen-Schweizer-City-Wave”, will open in February 2017 in Taufkirchen, close to Munich. The artificial wave is part of the Jochen Schweizer World, a facility that sells “experiences” such as surfing, body-flying and high-rope courses. A local river surfer sat down with Gabriele Zaglauer-Swoboda from the Green Party to discuss the environmental costs of this facility and to figure out ways for landlocked surfing to remain sustainable in the long-term.

Ms. Zaglauer-Swoboda, you are a member of the municipal council in Taufkirchen, Germany. When did you first hear about Jochen Schweizer’s idea to build an indoor surf facility close to Munich?

Jochen Schweizer already submitted his first request to the municipal council back in 2012. The plans however, had to be revised and the decision on the current plans was made in late 2013.

Is the wave going to be powered by renewable energy or by conventional energy sources like nuclear energy?

Both the indoor skydiving facility and the artificial wave will be powered by conventional energy sources.

Why did your party vote against the indoor surf facility?

In times of climate change it is irresponsible to power an energy-intensive leisure facility with conventional sources of energy. Some developments seem rather absurd: The Floßlände Wave on the Isar River for instance, can only be used to a limited extent because the water is used to generate environmentally friendly electricity. But the new indoor wave will be powered by environmentally harmful energy sources.

The prospects of commercial tax and advertising dollars make many people turn a blind eye.

And at the same time, environmentally harmful energy sources are used to power an artificial wave in an indoor surf facility. Even the district government of Upper Bavaria suggested to power the facility with regenerative energy. This however, was rejected by the planners. Their argument: the power demand would be too high – actually yet another reason to use renewable energy.

What do you think are the chances that Jochen Schweizer will operate the wave with renewable energy? Could the Taufkirchen municipal council made this obligatory?

I think there are few legal remedies. Moreover, the council has hardly changed its view on climate issues. The prospects of commercial tax and advertising dollars make many people turn a blind eye.

What can surfers do to convince Jochen Schweizer not to use nuclear energy for his wave project?

One way is to engage in public relation activities, not only in surf magazines, but also by approaching other media channels. Another opportunity is to raise awareness amongst surfers that enviornmentally harmful facilities should not be used.

In an interview, Jochen Schweizer announced that indoor surfing shall be free of charge. Can you make sense of this?

It is irresponsible to power an energy-intensive leisure facility with conventional sources of energy.

In fact no. Maybe the indoor skydiving facility, which is also part of the centre (and wich is even more energy demanding), and the catering and so on are supposed to yield enough profit to offer surfing free of charge.

Do you know if Citywave will be commissioned to build the indoor surf facility?

The municipal council does not get such information.

For you as a politician, what is your vision for surfing in the greater Munich area?

I guess there are not many politicians in the greater Munich area that have a concrete vision for the sport of surfing. I can only comment on this because my daughter is surfing at the Eisbach Wave. Like everything artificial, artificial waves cannot substitute real waves. I think we should make as many natural waves accessible to surfers as we can.

We should make as many natural waves accessible to surfers as we can.

However, one must not forget that the Isar River is a natural environment that has certain limits which should not be exceeded. From an ecological view, the Eisbach River seems to be optimal: it is located in the middle of the city, accessible by public transport, it does not do harm to nature, it is free of charge and it has become a tourist attraction – there should be more of this kind in the future!

The post New Project Takes River Surfing Indoors: What Are The Ecological Costs? appeared first on Riverbreak.

ALL RESULTS: 2015 Surf & Style European Championship

RB Team — Sun, 16 Aug 2015 16:52:28 +0000

The results are in from the 5th Surf & Style European Championships in Stationary Wave Riding. Curious who made it this year? Here are the results for the men, women, masters and grom categories. Thanks to our friends from NU.ART surfstuff for their hard work on the ground and the excellent live coverage! The winners are …

Results Men

1st Lukas Brunner (GER)
2nd Tao Schirrmacher (GER)
3rd Gerry Schlegel (GER)
4th Paul Günther (GER)

Results Women

1st Mareen Scholz (GER)
2nd Stephi Pirron (GER)
3rd Kathrin Gappmayr (AUT)
4th Rahel Nufer (SUI)

Results Masters

1st Fritz Hollweck (GER)
2nd Fritz Hollweck (GER)
3rd Robert Beetz (GER)
4th Pascal Schichor (GER)

Results Groms

1st Moritz Wienecke (GER)
2nd Simon Bitterlich (GER)
3rd Lennar Weinhold (GER)
4th Lilly von Treuenfels (GER)

The post ALL RESULTS: 2015 Surf & Style European Championship appeared first on Riverbreak.

Surf & Style 2015: ‎European Championships in Stationary Wave Riding

RB Team — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 17:13:33 +0000

We can’t imagine a more diverse urban surfing event than this one: over 130 riders from 14 nations will battle it out at the 5th European Championship in Stationary Wave Riding from August 14 – 16. Who’s gonna be the next European Champion after Lukas Brunner? We teamed up with NU.ART surfstuff to keep you posted and bring to you the freshest news on the comp straight into your living room.

This year the Citywave is higher, bigger and more powerful than ever before. These excellent conditions create the ideal setting for Europe’s river surfing elite to showcase pro-level river surfing and compete for a total prize money of 10,000 EUR.

2015 Live Ticker

We’re stoked to announce that our friends from NU.ART surfstuff will bring to you the breaking news and results from the championships as soon as things unfold. Get the latest updates straight from this awesome Surf & Style 2015 LIVE TICKER !

Contest Timetable

Saturday, August 15

TIME	CATEGORY	ROUND	HEATS

7:30 a.m. – 7:50 a.m.	Grommets	warm-up

7:50 a.m. – 9:50 a.m.	Grommets	4 of 12 riders get qualified for Sunday and meet the 4 seeded riders in the semifinal on Sunday	10

9:50 a.m. – 10:10 a.m.	Masters	warm-up

10:10 a.m. – 12:10 a.m.	Masters	4 of 12 riders get qualified for Sunday and meet the 4 seeded riders in the semifinal on Sunday	10

12:10 a.m. – 12:30 a.m.	Women	warm-up

12:30 a.m.- 2:30 p.m.	Women	4 of 12 riders get qualified for Sunday and meet the 4 seeded riders in the semifinal on Sunday	10

2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.	Men	warm-up

3:30 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.	Men	8 of 24 riders get qualified for Sunday and meet the 8 seeded riders in the quaterfinal on Sunday	15


8:30 p.m. – 9:45 p.m.	training – only seeded riders

Sunday, August 16

TIME	CATEGORY	ROUND	HEATS

7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.	Men	warm-up

9:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.	Men	Quarterfinal	4

10:15 a.m.- 11:15 a.m.	Men, Women, Masters, Grommets	warm-up semifinals

11:15a.m. – 11:45 a.m.	Grommets	semifinal	2

11:45 a.m. – 12:15 a.m.	Masters	semifinal	2

12:15 a.m. – 12:45 a.m.	Women	semifinal	2

12:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.	Men	semifinal	2

1:15 p.m. – 2:15p.m.	Men, Women, Masters, Grommets	warm-up finals

2:15 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.	Grommets	final	1

2:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.	Masters	final	1

3:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.	Women	final	1

3:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.	Men	final	1

4:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.	LIVE-Band Pinata

4:45 p.m.	award ceremony (Grommets, Masters, Women, Men)

List of Qualified and Seeded Riders

WOMEN	MASTERS	GROMMETS (U16)	MEN

Karina Rankine*	Robert Beetz*	Noah Beschen*	Lukas Brunner*

Stephanie Pirron*	Fritz Hollweck*	Moritz Wienecke*	Gerhard Schlegel*

Kathrin Gappmayr*	Alex Schwab*	Simon Bitterlich*	Jan Vogt*

Angelina Schülting*	Markus Knöringer*	Pauli Steindl*	Tao Schirrmacher*

Mareen Scholz	Carsten Kurmis	Lilly von Treuenfels	Flori Kummer*

Antonia Schwaiger	Hermann Winkler	Lennard Weinold	Christian Egetemeyr*

			Simon Strangfeld*

			Alexander Neumann*

			Manuel Kronfeldner

			Shane Beschen

			Kian Bayani

			Lukas Haigermoser

			Dominik Wienecke

			David Bitterlich

			Daniel Jung

Contest Rulebook

Details on the competition and event rules can be found in the 2015 Rulebook.

The post Surf & Style 2015: ‎European Championships in Stationary Wave Riding appeared first on Riverbreak.