Grunge beard under a straw hat, sundae in hand: the boss doesn’t bother too much with camouflage. Even on a usual Sunday, Jochen Schweizer checks that everything is all right in his Taufkirchner Arena. Whether the fries are nice and crisp, that everyone wears their helmets while bodyflying, of course he also takes a look at the indoor surfers – and he saw that it was good. Damn good in the surf hall. Wild life is raging on this 30-degree Sunday, and it has a name: RSL Pure Surfcamps Munich Pro.
RSL stands for Rapid Surf League, but what exactly is that? Asked Quirin Rohleder, the man who initiated the spectacle with business partner Christian Bach: “Rapid Surfing describes surfing on standing waves, natural, semi-natural or artificial. It is very similar to surfing in the sea and yet something unique. Because what makes a surfer at sea – reading the environment, the water, the swell and a constantly changing surf wave – that is absent in rapid surfing. The environment is static as soon as the water is in motion.” Rapid surfing combines the basic techniques of surfing in the sea with elements of skateboarding and snowboarding: “There are top rapid surfers who are also very good surfers. But not every top surfer is automatically a good rapid surfer.”
Everyone here is proud of the Sonnyboy Glatzer, but this time the local heroes from the Eisbach have it easier
Leon Glatzer can confirm that. The 25-year-old was the first German surfer at the Olympics, but on the only eight-meter-wide wave in Taufkirchen, the Sonnyboy, who was born on Maui, has a harder time than the local heroes from the Eisbach: “It’s a different sport,” says Glatzer, “but the athletes are all telling the same story. It’s really like family.” As if to prove it, every half minute another person in swimming trunks and a Hawaiian shirt comes by and pats him on the back. They are a bit proud of their Olympic starter, who grew up in Costa Rica and prevailed against a crowd of competitors in the Olympic qualification. In Taufkirchen it is enough for third place, behind last year’s winner Lennard Weinhold and Nicolas Marusa. Last year’s winner, Janina Zeitler from Munich, also wins the women’s category. Second place goes to Maya Sauer ahead of German champion Valeska Schneider and 15-year-old Kona Ettel from Pullach, the younger sister of halfpipe snowboarder Leilani Ettel.
Rapid surfing brings surfers, skaters, snow- and wakeboarders together, “and as long as we all meet to shred, everything is actually fine,” says the organizer – and hits the mark with it. Whereby shredding stands for what they all have in common on the board. You have to be particularly polarized to stand in an arena on a summer day like this, but if you watch the acrobats for a while, see frontside air reverses and all the other tricks, you will be far from the beats and the good mood of the fans carry away, to a place where the sun doesn’t necessarily shine, but where a wave has to roll.
The first competitions of the Rapid Surf League took place four years ago, back then as a tour with four stops, but after the Corona break, you decide to have a competition that’s pretty big for it, with a presenting sponsor and all the trimmings. BR24 switched live from the triathlon in Roth to Taufkirchen. In 2023 there will be 13 standing waves nationwide, and soon 33 internationally. Glatzer agrees that a lot has happened since the Olympics: “There are more inquiries from companies that don’t come from the surfing industry.” His goal is clear: the 2024 Olympics. The surfers will then be surfing in Teahupoo, the legendary wave off Tahiti. “The games are so big,” enthuses Glatzer, “for me the Olympics have been the best experience of my life so far. Not just the two weeks in Tokyo, but the whole long journey there.” He started working four months ago for 2024, “full cannon”, as he says. After Taufkirchen, there are contests in Spain, France and England, before the first Olympic qualification is due in Huntington Beach in September. Jochen Schweizer certainly doesn’t mind if a few Germans qualify.