On a cold November morning, seven men are staring anxiously at the surging waters of the Eisbach river, willing something to happen.
Nothing happens. They stretch a rope across the waters of this lively, man-made tributary of Munich’s Isar River, then send a board equipped with sensors through the water.
Work done and packing up, they glare when The Irish Times asks whether they will be able to solve “mystery of the missing wave”.
We are in central Munich, at the tip of the Englischer Garten park and in the shadow of the Nazi-era Haus der Kunst museum.
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For years – no one is quite sure how long – the water of the Eisbachhas shot out here at just the right speed and angle to create waves strong enough for surfing.
Some 800km from the sea, surfers came to the land-locked Bavarian capital to ride the Eisbach wave. Until the wave was no more.
Last week, city workers carried out their annual cleaning works, reducing water pressure to remove moss, weeds, sand and gravel. When they increased the water pressure, the wave didn’t return. The general consensus is that too much sand and gravel was removed.
“The wave went away because of cleaning works before, but never for as long as this,” said Alexander Neumann, who has lived in Munich – and surfed here – for 21 years. “I’ve made friends for life here, it’s a disaster.”
For most of the year, particularly during the warmer months, the Eisbach wave is a huge attraction in the heart of Munich.
YouTube and social media are filled with clips of the unique thrills and spills on offer. That makes the frustration all the greater, says Mathias Schmidt, head of the Surfing in Munich interest group.
“The Eisbach wave is a quality of life issue in Munich,” he said. “To strap your surfboard and, as I do, cycle 15 minutes here to surf: what other city offers that?”
The last days have seen a parade of experts to the banks of the Eisbachand, with 25 cubic metres per second, there is no shortage of water passing here.
Prof Robert Meier-Staude, a local water expert, told BR television: “The decisive factor is the height differential and it seems city employees did too thorough a job this year and removed too much [from the riverbed].”
The engineering challenge, now, is to return enough gravel and sand – in the right quantities and in the right places – to bring back the wave.
City authorities are tight-lipped about what lies ahead after Thursday’s measurements.
“Once all the measurement results are available,” it said in a statement, “the next steps will be determined”.
