#Tripnotes Geilicia: about patitos and cafecitos

by NOMB Surf | May 22, 2024 | 2024, GALICIA, SURFTRIPS, TRIPNOTES

The adventures of the three patitos

Once upon a time, there were 3 patitos who lived on a beautiful vineyard in Galicia. They enjoyed their life amidst vineyards and their favorite place, the garden pond, to the fullest.

Their morning ritual consisted of the winemaker Angie bringing them their fresh food. After filling their bellies, the patitos made their way to the garden pond every day. “Al aqua patitos” called Angie, and the patitos flew to the pond. During the short flight, they always caught a glimpse of an infinitely large, blue glittering expanse in the distance.

At the pond, the patitos often chatted about whether the distant, beautiful blue resembled their pond. They had heard from Angie that the large water was the endless sea. They dreamed of exploring it one day.

One day, patito uno noticed that the garden gate was wide open. They had never seen the tall wooden gate open before. Patito uno nodded briefly to the others, and all three suddenly thought the same thing. They exchanged a quick glance and simultaneously took flight. And so it happened. They fluttered out of the garden gate and embarked on their adventure.

From the first surf to the duckdive

The patitos had heard from Angie about a beach with a bar that had appeared in movies. First things first, cafecito and making a party plan! Done.

There are large rocks in front of the bar, dividing the beach in two.The adventurous patios decided to explore the long part of the beach first. They waddled to the end and were somewhat impressed by the force with which the waves crashed onto the beach. Was this excursion such a good idea after all? This sea was quite big and wild, and there was no one here except them. Feeling somewhat discouraged, they made their way back. It was quite tedious to waddle through this sand. Ufff.

But something was different from the outward journey. “Look,” said patito dos, “the water is much lower than before.” Back at the bar, they first had another cafecito, a new party plan had to be made. In the distance, they saw dorsal fins emerging and curiously climbed onto the rocks to see who was frolicking in the water.

One of the dolphins spotted the patitos and swam towards the rock. “Hey, who are you guys?” he asked. “We wanted to swim somewhere other than in the pond at home, but we’re not sure about swimming here,” they replied.

“Well then, come with me!” said the dolphin and led them to the other part of the beach. The water had gone down quite a bit, and waves were forming in some places.

“Do you see where the water is darker and no waves break?” asked the dolphin. “Those are channels, you can easily come to us in deeper water through there, and then we’ll show you how to surf.”

The patitos looked at each other undecidedly. “Surfing? Us? Hmmm.”

Without a bath in the sea and an adventure, going back home was not an option for them. So they gathered all their courage and jumped into the sea at the spot the dolphin had shown them.

And indeed, there was a current that pulled them out to the open sea, and just like that, they were in the lineup with the dolphins. “Now you just have to wait for a wave, paddle a bit, and then let it take you. You can come back over the channel. Easy peasy!” explained the dolphin. And indeed, it worked splendidly! The patitos were mighty stoked after their first waves. But then there was a big set, and they drifted helplessly in the impact zone. In the meantime, Keala Kennally had paddled into the lineup and found the patitos as she caught a big wave.

“You just have to do a turtle roll if you can’t get through the whitewater!” she called to the patios, who were completely disheveled and exhausted, trying hard to get back into the lineup. For the dolphins it was easy, they just dove deep under the waves, something the patitos couldn’t do. They tried the turtle roll, feet up, but it didn’t work. The water got caught in their feet and they were thrown towards the beach. In the lull between sets, they regrouped and discussed how to deal with the big waves because they really wanted to get back into the lineup. “We just dive under the whitewater and make ourselves very slim, tuck our wings in and pierce the wave with our beak. “Sounds like a great party plan!” they agreed, and it worked. This is how the patitos invented the duckdive. Even Keala was impressed and copied the technique.

The patitos surfed until the tide was high again, and no waves were breaking. They shared the waves and stoke with Keala and the dolphins.

“If you want to explore other waves here in Galicia, call our friend Ramon, he knows his way around here!” called the dolphins as they bid farewell. “Sea you in the water soon!”

Exhausted and happy, the patios waddled back to the bar and called Ramon to make the party plan for the next day.

Saying goodbye and starting all over again

After a restful sleep and wild dreams of a great surfing career, they followed Ramon’s advice and set off early to another beach nearby. To the shock of all, there was a dead dolphin on the beach. “Come on – let’s bury it,” they said and did it.

The sun was shining, and they blinked at the sea. The waves drew even lines on the gleaming water. “There’s hardly any wind, and a good swell from the west sends us great conditions,” said patito tres “Yes, and it’s low tide,” patito dos added. “Wow. Several beach breaks – one on the left, but the current looks strong there, and there are rocks. But right next to it is a top channel.” Patito dos said, “It’s too warm for me, I’m tired of the dolphin ritual, but I would take the waves further to the left, you can surf them to the right and left – look! What a great wall. And those there! Wow, you have to take them when the wave is almost breaking.” Said and done.

While patito uno and tres surfed and perfected the duckdive, Noah Klapp came by the beach and got into a conversation with patito dos. She too was excited about duckdiving and couldn’t stop frothing.

A long day came to an end. They excitedly reported their successful experiences to Ramon. He recognized the potential of the patitos and further ignited the surfing fire in their hearts and whispered a secret tip for the next day to them.

Setting reference points and shredding

Following Ramonetta’s good advice, the patitos went to the far end of another beach, where they found the best conditions with glassy waves. Best northwest swell of 1.2m on 12 seconds was waiting for them there. At mid-tide with ebbing water, the patitos jumped into the channel next to the rocks and made sure, through clever reference point setting, not to be pulled by the current into the rocky section of the beach.

Upon arrival in the lineup, they greeted the 2 ripping locals as they should and set reference points at the peak to be properly positioned for the epic waves. After a 2-hour shredding on soft spilling waves, they took the last wave-taxi of the day back to the beach and treated themselves to a cafecito at the ‘Abierto todo el año’, the beach café that was closed the day before, and let the sun shine on their beaks.

They couldn’t get enough, they were completely hooked. Tomorrow they wanted to set out on their own and remembered Angie’s stories.

Onto new shores

So it happened that our curious patios set out to surf the waves at a beautiful and deserted long beach further North. ”In which direction do we have to fly?” asked patito uno.

“Well, to the north, of course, you heard Angie, if there are no waves around here, we should go North,” replied another.

And so, at dawn, they crossed the next ria northward, already seeing the beautiful hill overlooking the ria in sight. Hardly had they flown over a small city, they already saw the huge sandy beach framed by sanddunes, and the wide lagoon emerging in the morning mist.

“Oh,” patito uno exclaimed impressed.

“Ah,” marvelled patito dos.

And: “Damn it’s beautiful, and no one far and wide,” patito tres exclaimed.

Our patitos landed on the striking large stone to the left of the path to the beach and devised an epic party plan.

“That’s the way!” finally exclaimed patito uno solemnly.

“Al agua patos!” they shouted in unison and jumped joyfully into the turquoise-blue water and shredded it for all it was worth.

After this epic session, our happy patitos sat on the beach and considered where to go next.

After some deliberation, one of the patitos shouted, “How could we forget, come on, let’s call Ramon, he always knows where the waves are!” And so it happened.

On fire

The weather on the next day was worse than expected. The storm was supposed to have passed already, but it was still very windy. Later in the afternoon, it calmed down a bit, and the patitos found another wave at a hidden beach nearby. Without any special expectations, they eventually went into the water. To get into the lineup, it was necessary today to continue refining the duckdives to get through the meter-high waves. The reward for this were many wipeouts due to the steep waves and little surfing. However, the surfed waves felt even better because of it.

At the end of the day, the patitos called Ramon. He said, “Uff patitos, I think, this was not an easy session.”

After this great inner and outer journey, the patios returned to the vineyard full of impressions, as inventors and completely stoked. They were already missed dearly by Angie. Excitedly, they reported their experiences and the invention of the duck dive. They had no idea yet what a revolutionary impact this would have on surfing worldwide.

And if they haven’t died, they’re still duckdiving today.

Thanks for joining, and for this great story: Annette, Casper, Judith, Nora, Seba and Torge.

Find some more impressions of #Geilicia on our Facebook photo album.

Sea you in Galicia in 2025. Besos Angie