Chris Monroe’s cinema verité SoCal beach edits focus around the antics of Kalani Robb, the Catchsurf team and Blair Conklin. What sets Beefs T.V. apart from similar YouTubers in the genre is his genuine, almost mid-western sincerity, “Oh my gosh, look at that!” or his infectious catchphrase “Ooooh, smoookified!” More captivating (at least to us) is the filmaker’s insertion of bodysurfing whenever and wherever possible which, we might add, dovetails nicely into all-things water photography.

Chris took the show on the road recently with muse Blair and captured the opening party for o2 SURFTOWN MUC. Most interesting to us were the images Chris captured of the quiet stillness underwater while a party with thousands of attendees raged above the surface. We chose to run some of those images here. We also called up Chris to see how he fared so far away from the sands of Laguna Beach.

Was Munich the only stop on this trip?
Oh yeah! Blair invited me along for the opening of o2 SURFTOWN MUC. After four days at the wavepool, we then went into town to check out the Eisbach.

We know Blair has been to the Munich pool quite a bit – did the pool live up to Mr. Conklin’s froth level?
The pool was rad and definitely state of the art! Crystal clear water, a quickly growing wave menu and super nice facilities. The layout of the pool is insane and I’m stoked I decided to make the trip.

And it was the grand opening? 
Yeah it was the grand opening with a private invite day and a public day. There was something like 16,000 spectators there over the weekend opening. Pretty insane!

Break it down for our readers. What is the setup like?
The setup is super rad with a unique footprint that allows the shortest/easiest paddle out through the middle outlet. As far as the facility, the main building is legit with inside and outside bar, lounge areas, massive jumbo tron, surf shop, private cabanas, locker room, change stalls, all the bells and whistles. The giant bridge walkway over the facility is next level too and offers unique vantage points of the entire pool. In fact this pool probably has the best vantage points as you can watch the surf from any area. 

How about the waves? There is the split peak and pointbreak setting – what are those like?
The wave settings all looked pretty amazing, they have split peak, soft beginner waves, double ramp air waves, point break and they were creating more as we were there! They even have the first skim in wave due to the shallow entry inlet which is definitely a show stopper! Blair and Adrien Raza skimming into perfect waves was pretty incredible to watch! Axel and Quirin have already done an amazing job getting a variety of wave options and I think there will be tons more to come.

Germany. What was your impression of German surf culture before and after this event?
German surf culture rules, everyone is pretty stoked and just hyped to experience surfing! All I saw were smiles pretty much.

What do you think of the Endless Surf wave pool technology?
They got it pretty dialed!

How did it go bodysurfing there?
It was a little tricky to get windows to sneak in for some rides but I did manage to squeak in some little sessions on the barreling peak wave and it’s perfect for bodysurfing! That little tube is so perfect and reels off until it’s dry! Wish I could have got more bodysurf/wave time, but next time I will.