Allow me to ask: Is there at least a river where you are at home? Or, as with us, is the only flowing water that comes from the tap? When we add up our favorite places in the family, we definitely don’t miss Istanbul and New York, or smaller, Kona, Hossegor and Nazaré. They are all by the water, by the sea. And that’s what we miss most: the view of the sea, the peace and space, the ships, the waves on the Atlantic, which are so friendly in summer and become gigantic in winter.
Next to the mountains, the waves are the most beautiful adventure playgrounds available to athletes. Climbing could still be done in the middle of Germany. Climbing walls for training are now everywhere, and the Alps are not that far away either. But what really moves us with our longing for waves and the sea is surfing. But how are you supposed to learn this sensibly a thousand kilometers away from the waves? No chance. Until now. That can change. The waves come to us.
The way to Tahiti leads via Hallbergmoos
A small insert: There are currently three German world-class surfers. The first is Sebastian Steudtner, the master of giant waves. The second is Nic von Rupp, the most elegant one out there. The third is Leon Glatzer, the acrobat who took part in the Olympics in Japan. None of them learned to surf in this country.
Steudtner lived in Hawaii before moving to Nazaré in Portugal. Nic von Rupp grew up in Portugal. And Leon Glatzer grew up on a beach in Costa Rica with a German and an American passport. You see: the German world-class surfers come from far away. But that could change.
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Glatzer recently moved from Costa Rica to Munich with his girlfriend. No, he is not planning a career as a mountaineer. He sees Munich, whose surfing scene still gathers around the babbling of the Eisbach in the English Garden, as a future performance center. He wants to train there for the 2024 Olympics. Paris got the games, but the surfing takes place in Tahiti, on Teahupoo, one of the most dangerous waves in the world.
That’s the plan for Surftown MUC, a theme park with a 10,000 square meter pool and a gigantic artificial wave. : Image: O2 Surftown MUC
What speaks for Munich is a project at the gates of the city. The Surftown MUC is currently being built in Hallbergmoos, a leisure park with a 10,000 square meter pool and a gigantic artificial wave on which Glatzer will not only be running camps from next early summer, but also can train new tricks for the Olympics. In the future, he is convinced that the next generation of German surfers will also come from Germany. According to the plan, the path to Tahiti will not only lead through Hallbergmoos for him in the future.
