Germany

Surfing in Germany began in the mid ‘50s, when lifeguards from Sylt started to stand up on their heavy (50kg!), homemade paddleboards. It was 1964 when Uwe Behrens, a lifeguard from Sylt, came back from a trip to France with the first real production surfboard. Shortly afterwards, the first German surf club was born. In 1966, Jack O`Neill visited the island, wondering why his company was selling so many wetsuits to Germany and witnessed first-hand the growing scene on Sylt. During the ‘70s Sylter lifeguards and surfers started to travel extensively, resulting in France and the Canary Islands becoming the locations of choice for expats. It wasn’t until 1988 that a dozen enthusiasts formed a German team to participate in the World Amateurs in Costa Rica. Three years later the German Surfing Federation (DWV) was formed and since then, the German championships have been held in France annually. As the windsurfing boom died down in the mid ‘90s, surfing’s popularity increased and international surfing industries began to target the German market. The first surfing magazine Surfers was published in 1995 and now there are six national and international surf magazines in the German language, including multi-lingual Surf Europe and insights into the German surfing scene with Free Magazin. There are around 200 surf shops in the country, but most will be crossover shops, supplying kite and windsurf equipment to a population forced to accept that local conditions favour a sail. The only German surf festival takes place annually on Sylt and Portuguese-based Marlon Lipke is the country’s most successful competitor. Germany has more than 10,000 surfers, including a good percentage of women and most of them travel, especially to France and Denmark.