Wakesurfing on the Danube

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Jul 14

I’ve only just came back to Australia after a few absolutely unforgettable weeks in my home turf Austria. Before this trip I hadn’t been back in nearly four years and I can’t put into words h o w good it was to spend time with my parents, brother and his family, old mates and to simply inhale Austrian air! …and in as many ways as possible 😉 On the mountain bike, swimming in some of Austria’s incredibly gorgeous lakes, hiking in the Alps… ahhhh, Austria is truly magic!

One of the highlights was certainly a wakesurf-session behind a true machine of a boat on the Danube, Europe’s second largest river, that flows right through Vienna, the capital of Austria. A couple of old mates from Ohana Vienna recently bought themselves this new toy that nearly is impossible to describe in only a few words. Basically built for wakesurfing it has some massive water tanks with several hundreds liters capacity in its hull. By pressing a few buttons in the cockpit the captain can regulate the tanks and by that adjust the wake that forms behind the boat. The technology is simply amazing and highly advanced and takes surfers stance (goofy or regular) and many other factors into consideration.

Meeting up at the marina in Vienna, everybody was frothing for riding some endless river waves. Though, a heavy rain squall hit out of the blue. We feared that was the end of our sess before it even had started…so we waited…

Good things come to those who wait! The reward was a huge rainbow and the most joy evening session we only could have wished for!

With sick tunes pumping out of the sound system’s mega speakers, we were riding river waves into the sunset. In fact it was nearly pitch black when we exited the water only shortly before 10pm. Ahhhh, loving the long days i Austria at this time of the year!

First Markus, one of the owners of the boat, showed how it’s done. He’s really good at it and pulled quite a few sweet moves. I was up next. I had tried wakesurfing twice before but that’s already several years back now…. In fact, I secured the victory at the “Danube Pipemasters”, the Open Wakesurfing Championships in 2008 and won the title “One Foot Offshore Pipe Mistress” 🙂 The very first go I had at it earlier the same year at the Traunsee, one of Austria’s most beautiful lakes and the place where my mother is from.

Six years after my first attempts and ‘only’ been riding ocean waves since, I was a bit insecure at the start but soon was riding the same wave for several minutes till my legs cramped up 😉

Soooooooooooo much fun, thanx to Markus and Michi from Ohana Vienna!!!
Hopefully see you next time for another sess when back in good old Vienna 🙂
Gabi x

POSTED IN : travels