Trip in Galicia, Spain – Tommaso Cecchini- Monia De Angeli // Strapless Kitesurfing

Tommaso Cecchini and Monia De Angeli went last summer in Galicia, here’s the report of their in the South West of  Spain.

The Ocean’s Corner

In this summer, our research and passion for wind and waves led us to discover the Iberic Peninsula.

With up to 6979 km routed through a van, in 20 days we circumnavigated Spain and Portugal coasts, starting from Italy crossing France.

We visited severals cities, towns, isthmuses, and of course surfing and kitesurfing spots.

In my story, I’d like to focus on my experience in Galicia, the region that most impressed us, located in the north-west of Spain.

Inspiration:

In past years, I had heard of this place as a still wild land, beated by the Atlantic Ocean waves; I thought it was quite unknown and not really frequented as a kiters’ destination. I coudn’t find much information about it on the net, some more recent kite videos date back to 2005-2006 or few years later..

“Here we are!”  I said to myself, “we must visited this place!”

With Monia, my tireless girlfriend and life partner, and Spot, our enthusiastic and polite Jack Russell, we picked up the necessary to start our trip towards that Ocean’s corner.

Conditions:

Our stay in August leds us to know that the main winds that are blowing in Galicia are NE wind and Swell from 1° and 4° quadrant in spring and summer, while SW wind and Swell from 3° and 4° quadrant in autumn and winter.

Tides are significant in terms of waves quality as the Ocean has  an hike more or less high during the day; it is around 3m in August.

It’s better to surf with medium/low tide, so we have the best 2 phases in, the medium tide towards the low and the medium tide towards the high.

Due to the varied shape of the Galician coasts, let’s say that all the spots are suitable for surfing and others for kitesurfing, with clear water and directed winds as side shore, side-on, side-off, according to the own taste. Furthermore, thanks to the geographic orientation that look to the West, the sun sets around 10pm in August…and that’s not even the lightest month!

Briefly, I would add that this European region is a true playground for watersports lovers.

Trip and story:

Coming from Portugal, we enter in the south of Galicia, towards “Costa da Morte”, extended from Capo Fisterra to Malpica, in the province of A Corunha.

Its name comes from coastline’s shape, made by countless cliffs overlooked the sea, alternated with coves and sandy and rocky bays, where over the years several vessels shipwrecks have followed, the same vessels that nowadays sail these seas.

One of the remarkable characteristic of this land is the lush vegetation that surround it.

Personally, it is one of the greenest lands ever seen, riched in freshwater streams that flow into the Ocean with its impressive pace.

Also, all the beaches i’ve visited are well-provided: they have drinking water, clean toilets and showers. And all is for free! To say the least, that’s a great service to all tourists. 

After seeing an amazing sunsets in Capo Fisterra, tasting some italian pasta and a good glass of red wine by the sea, we head to Playa o Praia di Traba, close to Laxe town.

Through a friend – who I want to thanks  for his advise – we knew where waiting for wind and waves.

To get to this “lost” spot, it is necessary to forget usual road signs and going by chance, or asking to local folks, if you can find them!

Once in Traba, on the way down to the beach, we see a real spectacle: a sandy bay sorrounded by a chain of granite stone’s hills, with 3 groups of houses at the slopes, sorrounded by corn fields, orchards, fruit trees; a small lagoon at the center, populated by animals of protected species, and  sand dunes carved by the ocean….wow!

Without diminishing the rest of Galicia, this place is known as ecological park and in my opinion it is one of the most unspoilt areas of Europe, where man can still live peacefully with flora and fauna.

Normally, with good weather forecast, you can go surfing without wind in the morning and then you prepare kites from the early afternoon, to surf right waves, when it comes side shore wind right hand.

The seabed is mostly sandy, anyway being a beach-break with several peaks, a nice clean wave rolls out near the promontory above the wind.

To give a last positive note to the spot of Traba, I point out that on 15th August there were no more than 10 surfers in the water to share this nature’ spectacle.

After the Costa da Morte, continuing towards east, we head into the beach Razo- Baldaio, probably one of the most famous in Galicia.

It consists in two spots located on a kilometer-long beach, with side on wind, waves and jagged peaks.

When there’s a light breeze, it’s blowing first in the spot of Traba and then, in the following days, with good weather forecast it hits also Razo and Baldaio, which are a bit more sheltered.

Continuing the exploration of the Rias Altas, in the north-east of the province of A Corunha, we find Ferrol, a town of about 70,000 inhabitants, famous for the historicity of its important commercial and military dock of the entire northern Spain.

It’s difficult to realize where you are after having travelled for many hours at night: we found a new spot by chance, among dark and narrow streets. That was Doninhos, located in Costa da Ferrolterra.

At dawn, while everyone was sleeping in their parked van, I got up to see the conditions: everything was so peaceful, on the right waves were going regular as a clock work, on the left there were some local houses, in front of me a green park with free horses out to pasture, and behind me a large pine forest with squirrels…that’s the beauty of Galicia!

During the day, we find out the comfort of this stretch of coast for surfers and kiters.

Basically we are in the shelter of Cabo Prior, that divides San Xurxo Doninhos beaches from Santa Comba and Ponzo beaches.

In the first two, where there are 5 surfing spots and 3 kitesurfing spots, wind from NE  is side off; in the remaining ones, where there are many spots, wind comes side on. Waves always come on shore.

Normally, therefore, you can surf glassy waves without wind in the morning and kitesurfing waves in the afternoon. To your liking, you can choose to surf clean waves down the line or have fun to do great aerials. 

Going through the north, we reach Valdovinho, a village exposed to waves and side/side on wind, ending with Pantin, last but not least beach, also renowned for the Pantin Classic Pro Galicia, 3-star ASP event. 

Well, I’d say it’s not so bad to have all these available spots just few kilometers from the city!!

I remind that you can find accomodation, car parks, toilets directly on the spots, and also drinking water, bars, pubs, restaurants and surf schools for each level.

Personally, I want to focuse on San Xurxo spot, also called San Jeorge, which is accessed by a sandy narrow street, in the middle of dune, 10 min walk from the parking. There you can get to the beautiful view of a beach with pristine sand, windswept with crystal water where all the variations of colours, from emerald green to deepest blue, jump out.

This beach, like many others along the coast, is semi-elliptical shaped then it’s safe enough for kitesurfing, even in gusty wind off-shore; also, during the summer season it is equipped with lifeguards.

Materials:

Thanks to Galician different conditions we could test our equipment. 

Slingshot kite Rally 2015, JAY XT Harness with Dynabar XT sliding hook.

Personally I can say that the new most significant performances of Rally are go upwind, the de-power and low end. Actually while you surfed the waves will inevitably run free at high speeds, losing a lot of water. Rally allows you to be back on the line up in many fewer edges than any other kite.

The pull of this kite is meaningful and powerful, especially at low speeds where normally the kite suffers, particularly with gusty wind.

However, it performs well even at its maximum range of use, allowing the rider to drift the kite at the right moment, so you can be able to surf only with the true strength of the wave.

 Several adjustments pressure bar make happy the personal tastes of kiters.

The JAY XT harness with Dynabar  sliding hook is a true revolution in kite surfing, especially waveriding!

The comfortable and sturdy structure gives a great lumbar support, both riding or with water impact. It’s well finished in all details with internal EVA, anti-abrasion edges, rear handle for removable leach, wide adjustment Cordura straps covered with neoprene and safety cutter. 

The Dynabar  with sliding hook gives a feeling and an absolute freedom of movement. Practically the hook moving to the right and left, confers more than 90 ° to the body torsion of the rider, leading to a wider and more radical approach towards the waves.

You will do much deeper  tacks, gybes , cut back and bottom turn therefore you’ll be able to maintain a constant speed projecting forward. You’ll feel without bond just like in surfing, although the kite will stay in the correct position. 

This system is the most functional and intuitive I’ve tried.  You will be amazed by how it will change your type of riding, with or without straps and also in strapless tricks on flat water or choppy conditions making simply natural body movements.

Dynabar is also equipped with a quick release (red ball) for those wishing to connect the safety leach directly in front of the harness.

Finally remember that the JAY XT harness is provided complete with a dynabar multi-setting, hook slide, fixed hook, seat harness. You can practice with  JAY XT waveriding, freestyle, freeride, race, snowkiting, mountainboard and buggy. 

Well, you tell me if the word “Versatility” has a meaning more appropriate than this!

Thanks to: 

New Action Boardsport. 

Jimmy Mazzanti UC Distribution for Slingshot kite. More at slingshot.com

Mario Servino of JayStore for JAY XT Harness. More at Jaystore.eu

Massimiliano Baldini for having recommended Galicia.

Tommy, Monia and Spot

Find more about the Dynabar XT sliding hook here :

Comments

comments