GERMANY PHOTO SET SURFING

Surfing the Eisbach River in Munich

epa11113870 Surfer Valeska Schneider rides a wave on the Eisbach River in Munich, Germany, 08 January 2024 (issued 30 January 2024). Valeska is a professional surfer who grew up in Bavaria, central Germany, far from the ocean. She first got familiar with surfing during her gap year in Australia. What started as a four-day training, became a passion and later developed into a full-time job. During her university studies she often traveled to surf in the ocean, while also being able to train indoors as well as outdoors without leaving the city, thanks to the waves created by the Eisbach, a short man-made river running through Munich. While artificial waves are good for improving one’s technique, Valeska found that she could learn different skills on the tricky Eisbach waters while enjoying the close contact with nature as well as the local city-surfing community. However - she admits - tourists can be “a little annoying sometimes”. What river-surfing lacks in terms of adrenaline from the rush to catch an unpredictable wave, is balanced by what it provides in terms of training, according to Valeska. River-surfing is more about the performance than the waves, as they always have the same intensity. “You can film yourself practicing over and over. It is really nice to have a river to improve. At the ocean you have to fight for the wave, here you just wait for your turn”. Valeska currently runs her own surfboard brand, and although she does not live in Munich, she never misses the chance to train on the Eisbach whenever she visits. “For me this is like a harbor, where I can come home”, she says. EPA/ANNA SZILAGYI ATTENTION: This Image is part of a PHOTO SET

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