Surfing as a past time has been with the Polynesians for hundreds of years. The earliest days of surfing were on Paipo boards. The Paipo is a small oval piece of wood that was ridden like a bodyboard. As the Hawaiians advanced in their surf riding abilities different boards began to surface that allowed the rider to stand up. By the time Cook landed in Hawaii some of the boards were in excess of 13ft. The largest of these were known as the and were reserved for the elite amongst Hawaiians.
In these early days History and culture were passed down orally in Hawaii, what modern Hawaiians call “Talking Story”. This article is the first attempt (as far as I can tell) to record the history of River Surfing on a global scale. Like The ancient Hawaiians who discovered the glory of surfing, the majority of the research for this paper was done through “Talking story”, so some facts and dates may not be precise.
MUNICH THE HOME OF BEER AND RIVER SURFING
The first attempt to stand up and surf on a river occurred in Germany on 5th of September 1975. Two brothers from the small Bavarian town of Trostberg headed to Munich to search out a surfable wave. The Pauli brothers had previously tried to surf rivers before the epic trek to Munich. However, their early attempts had been less successful and required the use of a tow line to ride. On the 5th of September the Pauli brothers, Arthur and Alexander, were the first to surf the Flosslaende on the Iser River in the heart of Munich. They accomplished this without the use of a rope. Within a short period of time word spread throughout Munich that there was indeed a surfable wave in the city. The local scene began growing from that point. Because the river wave happens to be near a local campsite traveling surfers began having a