7 QUESTIONS WITH MATCHU LOPES

1. MATCHU, THE 2024 GKA KITE-SURF WORLD TOUR IN SAL IS GOING TO BE A SUPER EXCITING EVENT, AND EVERYONE’S FROTHING TO SHRED THOSE AMAZING WAVES AND GAIN VALUABLE POINTS FOR THEIR RANKING. IT’S YOUR HOME TURF, HOW ARE YOU FEELING AND WHERE DID YOU SPEND THE LAST FEW MONTHS TRAINING FOR THIS YEAR’S TOUR?

Yeah, the first event of the year, at home, Cape Verde, Ponta Preta, where I grew up is super exciting. Winning last year here was just so amazing. Beating all the best guys in the world, Mitu, Airton, Pedro, James, Sebastian… they’re all extremely technical, stylish, powerful, and such complete riders, I never thought I could do that. But yeah, the dream came true in front of my home crowd, my people, and my family and the wave where I grew up. I even got a tattoo after that to remember this day for the rest of my life. For sure the most amazing and important event I’ve won in my career so far.

I’m feeling good, a lot has happened in my life lately. I recently opened a Duotone Pro Center on Boa Vista, right on the beach, with a beautiful big bay out the front, perfect for freestyle, with a surf spot right there and other spots really close by. So, Boa Vista is where I trained for the last few months. 

Unfortunately, this winter hasn’t been the greatest in Cape Verde in terms of wind or waves. But luckily, Boa Vista is blessed and even on days when Windguru was forecasting only light winds like 8-10 knots, we got like 15-17 knots thermal winds with little waves, so really rippable conditions. Sadly, though, no big swell has come through for the last month, but still, I was on the water every day.

2. YEAH, THAT’S EXCITING NEWS WITH YOUR DUOTONE PRO CENTER ON BOA VISTA, CONGRATULATIONS! TELL US A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT IT AND HOW YOU ARE INVOLVED IN THE DAY-TO-DAY RUNNING OF THE CENTER.

Yeah, thanks, it’s super exciting, I’m so happy! The place is so beautiful. Boa Vista has really long whiter than white sandy beaches, totally uncrowded, the spots are so pure and secluded. As the third largest island of Cape Verde, there’s lots of culture and the people are so special, the music is nice, the food is delicious, and the weather is amazing. We’re now in February, it’s winter, but we’ve got like 26 degrees today, perfect sunshine and no one around other than the team at the center and our clients. 

As I already mentioned, the DPC Boa Vista is right on the beach of an amazing, wide-open flat water bay, perfect for beginners and experienced riders alike, no matter if you’re into freestyle or surf foiling, wing foiling, kite foiling, and when a west swell hits, there’s even a surf spot right here. Less than a kilometer away, there’s a perfect right-hander as well that’s often barrelling, depending on swell and wind, it throws up so many different conditions, it’s really good. There are also big heavy wave spots nearby, like “Bangladesh” and another 6 or 7 spots around the island, which are all very different from each other. You can find everything from side-shore to offshore, lefts and rights, barreling waves, slabs or fun onshore kickers, Boa Vista has it all and more. It’s the ultimate playground, such an amazing place, and we’re all having a super good time here. I couldn’t be any happier. 

My role here is to host camps and clinics during the winter months. From December to April, we have really good conditions on Boa Vista, from small to medium waves and extra large, heavy waves when it’s properly on. I’m also taking people around the island, sharing my favorite places with them, where I train and prepare for comps and projects. These places are my very special spots, where I usually go to escape and enjoy soul sessions with my local friends. This year we only have three clinics, two in March and one in April, but next year I’m planning on doing two clinics per month, starting in December until the end of April.

And yeah, although we haven’t done much marketing or publicity for the center as it’s the first season, it’s already so popular and people have been arriving from all over, Italy, Germany, France….  it’s amazing, I’m totally stoked. It’s a dream come true and I can’t wait for the upcoming seasons to show and share this epic place with more people. 

3. WHAT ARE YOUR ASPIRATIONS FOR THE 2024 GKA WORLD TOUR?

I want to do all the wave events and get the best results possible. But I’m not putting any pressure on myself to become Number One. Of course, if I end up right at the top of the ranking at the end of the season, it’d be amazing, that’s what I have been working so hard for. On the strapless freestyle side of things, like for example in Sylt, I will try to keep up with the best and see where that takes me. My main goal always is to be on the podium. The best is of course to come first, second is also good, third ain’t that great but the points still add up.

4. THE EVENT IN SAL IS ONE OF FIVE EVENTS THAT MAKE UP THE TOUR THIS YEAR. HOW IMPORTANT IS EACH OF THE STOPS? DOES EACH EVENT COUNT TOWARD WINNING THE CROWN OR CAN YOU DISCARD ONE OF THE FIVE EVENTS LIKE IN SURFING?

Yeah, we have five events and if one goes wrong I can always discard it, but you can’t discard the last stop. So no matter what, you have to go to the last stop and the result counts. 

In general, of course, it’s best to compete in all of them and collect points for a shot at the world title. The events I enjoy the most are definitely the ones with solid big waves, so hopefully Mother Nature will send us some gifts. 

5. SAL IS HOME TO PONTA PRETA, ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC WAVES IN WAVE KITING WORLDWIDE. HOW DO THE WAVES AND THE CONDITIONS ON BOA VISTA COMPARE TO PONTA PRETA AND THE WAVES ON SAL?

Sal has got some really nice spots. As we all know, Ponta Preta is one of the best all-time waves. You can sit right there on the rocks and watch the action from super close, it’s just insane. With really clean wave faces up to four or five meters peeling perfectly down the line, with the sun shining through, and offshore winds, it’s just an incredible wave. To kite Ponta Preta can be really tricky though as the wind angle, most of the time, is super offshore. And as I’m riding backside, it’s even harder. There are other spots, when Ponta Preta is not on, but some are pretty hard to access with gnarly rocks and sea urchins and stuff, but they’re all totally doable. 

Why I love Boa Vista so much, and why I am here and not on Sal is because there’s so much more variety here, the island is bigger, the beaches are much more beautiful, and there are heaps fewer people. Being out here on the water is just magical. It’s the perfect secluded kite paradise, you come here and you escape the madness of so many other kite spots around the world.

6. COULD YOU IMAGINE THE GKA WORLD TOUR HOLDING AN EVENT ON BOA VISTA IN THE FUTURE?

I already thought about it but I just don’t know how it could be made possible. Boa Vista just doesn’t have the necessary infrastructure at this stage to hold an event of such a big scale. Plus of course, we’d need some big sponsors to come through for support to make it happen. An event here would be sick and would get the spot really on the map. Conditions-wise, there are so many amazing options to get an insanely good event underway here, it could also be a special invitational event, 5-star, barrels, big waves, or something along those lines. But yeah, for setting up a GKA event, a lot of money is involved and that’s the really tricky issue that would have to be resolved.