The surfing wave is dead, long live the surfing wave?

- Manufacturer speaks up

Created: 02/17/2022Updated: 02/17/2022 18:53

By: Carl Christian Eick

The "Permanent Wave" in Nuremberg is scheduled to go into operation this spring.

The heart of the system (total costs around 2.4 million euros) comes from the manufacturer "Dreamwave".

The Cologne-based company also designed the steel shaft construction previously considered for Wolfratshausen.

© Stefan Hippel/Verlag Nürnberger Presse

On Tuesday, the Wolfratshausen city council buried the planned surfing wave.

But the manufacturer claims: "The shaft can be built - without increasing costs".

Wolfratshausen/Innsbruck – The wave is dead, long live the wave?

Markus Aufleger, professor and head of the hydraulic engineering department at the University of Innsbruck and managing director of the Cologne-based company "Dreamwave" GmbH is firmly convinced that an artificial surfing wave can still be realized in Wolfratshausen - and "without increasing costs", like the 56- Year-old stressed in conversation with our newspaper.

Surf wave: City council stops the project with 23:0 votes

As reported, the city council unanimously refused to invest a further almost 144,000 euros in the ambitious project at its most recent meeting.

The mayors and councilors blamed the planning office Fichtner, Water & Transportation in Munich and the designer and supplier of the steel shaft construction, the company "Dreamwave" (dream wave).

Both would have surprised again and again with cost increases, meanwhile planners and "Dreamwave" would have gambled away any trust.

Markus Aufleger, who lived in the Beuerberg community for many years, sees his company being pushed into the role of the "culprit": "But we're not." On the contrary: "Under the given circumstances, the wave in Wolfratshausen is feasible without increasing costs. It is now a matter of quickly "putting together the broken pieces and realizing the thing".

The wave in Wolfratshausen is feasible under the given circumstances without increasing costs.

It's now a matter of putting the pieces together and realizing the thing.

Prof. Markus Aufleger, Managing Director of the company "Dreamwave" GmbH

The hydraulic engineering expert does not make a murder den out of his heart.

After many years of working together on surfing, "we felt like a close partner to the city of Wolfratshausen".

The fact that "Dreamwave" now publicly has to serve as an accomplice for the project's death is an "extremely misrepresentation".

For years, according to Aufleger, "Dreamwave" has been trying to "react to the difficult cost situation in Wolfratshausen with flexible offers".

On January 31, the municipality was offered the option of shouldering “a really significant amount” itself.

"We were willing to take the risk," said Aufleger.

In return, the shaft manufacturer wanted "a usage and advertising right" for the plant planned in Weidach, because they were "highly convinced of the quality of the location".

But on February 3, the municipality announced that the option was not compatible with the EU's Leader funding guidelines.

According to the meeting documents from February 15, it sounds like this: "However, the Leader funding conditions do not allow us to accept a reduced price offer from the supplier of the shaft system in return for the granting of exclusive rights of use for the system in order to rule out indirect aid." : The city must reflect the total investment costs of almost 1.4 million euros gross in the capital budget.

Surf wave: With a simpler construction still the goal?

According to him, Aufleger and his team did not give up: On February 7th, the city received the draft of a "significantly simpler shaft construction", a "single ramp", as it is called in specialist circles.

With this solution, the engineer, who has a doctorate, assures our newspaper, "a realization of the wave would be feasible without the cost increase rejected last Tuesday".

Means: Said additional 144,000 euros would not be needed.

Aufleger said there was no response to this offer before the most recent city council meeting on February 15.

It wasn't until Thursday that he "received a general request".

Incidentally, he did not find out about the death knell for the wave from the city, but "in the WhatsApp group of the association 'Surfing Wolfratshausen'".

Each artificial surf wave is unique

The 56-year-old, who has been working as a professor at the University of Innsbruck since 2007 and is one of the co-founders of the "Dreamwave" company, is asking for understanding: those involved would still be entering no man's land with the construction of artificial surfing waves.

"Each system is unique", an individual technical challenge.

Wolfratshausen was able to benefit a little from the experiences that were made during the conception of the "Perm" in Nuremberg.

The heart of this artificial wave (total investment costs: around 2.4 million euros), which is scheduled to go into operation this spring, comes from the dream wave manufacturer from the Rhineland.

The company, which currently feels unjustly pilloried,

In the rafters' town, I "involved extensively in the planning process and worked out flexible solutions in consultation with those involved," says the managing director in retrospect.

Problems (“usually it was about costs”) were sometimes reacted to “creatively”.

Even "a loan for interim financing of the shaft construction by us" was in the room.

Shaft manufacturer: Cost increases due to several years of planning

Keyword costs: Auflege attributes the extreme price increase to the very long planning period of several years.

If the worst came to the worst, the city was informed immediately.

This was also the case on November 8, 2021. At that time, the hydraulic engineering expert admits, there was an “enormous increase in costs”.

"Nevertheless, 'Dreamwave' was initially willing to continue with the solution that was favored at the time, with a comprehensive financial risk for our company."

The recent price increase, which was the reason for mayors and city councilors to close the Surfwelle file, has nothing to do with the "purchase price" of the wave, according to Aufleger.

The deficit of almost 144,000 euros arose because according to the Leader funding guidelines, no personal financial commitment through 'Dreamwave' is allowed.

The managing director now wants to turn the tables: With a somewhat simpler and therefore cheaper version of the steel shaft, the project could still be put into practice.

Manufacturer "Dreamwave": The wave can be built"

Aufleger's conclusion: Perhaps the city council named one or more absent culprits "out of political calculation" for the end of the project.

"But we want to look ahead," said the 56-year-old.

"The wave can be built." Mayor Heilinglechner could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

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