Australian Surf Legend tries Munich’s Permanent Wave before Oktoberfest

Mick Fanning has embraced the best that Munich can offer by combining a trip to the famous Oktoberfest to drink beer with a surfing adventure on the German city’s quirky Eisbach river wave.

The three-time World Surf League champion has ridden amazing waves all over the world during his illustrious career, however nothing quite like the river wave by a bridge near the Haus der Kunst art museum.

The river forms a standing wave one metre high of cold and shallow water that surfers have used since 1972 with 2010 marking the year when surfing was officially permitted on the river.

Fanning tried it out on a fresh Munich morning with friends and local stars, the 36-year-old struggling initially to master the unique flow before settling down enough to try some cool tricks for the crowd.

The Australian revealed, “It’s good fun. The boards are smaller than sea surfing with two side fins and a guitar pick in the back. The weight transition is different. You are fighting the wave, more like snowboarding.”