Three of the world's best wave kiters, Matchu Lopes, Keahi de Aboitiz, and Reo Stevens, take us under the lip in 'The Barrel Section'! From courage and experience to equipment specifics to the spot itself, it must all come together to get that perfect barrel. In this IKSURFMAG exclusive, you'll find out what it takes to get totally pitted, bro!

If that standing barrel from Reo Stevens on the previous made you stop and go, "Whoa.", you wouldn't be alone. Surfing a standing barrel while looking supremely casual and relaxed is not something many humans, especially kitesurfing humans, will ever experience. The barrel club in kiting is a small one, and finding out the secret password is not for the faint of heart!

Let's hear from Matchu Lopes, who we caught up with during the latest GKA Kite Surf World Tour in Rio de Janeiro. Matchu shares what and who inspired him to chase barrels and all the hard work it took to get there…

Matchu Lopes: "You know, riding barrels is something I was never good at, but it always caught my attention. I always saw Keahi, Mitu, Airton, and Reo, these great riders getting really good barrels. I hadn't figured it out properly; I was doing turns and airs, and then I finally said I'm going to do this. I stopped doing turns. I was only looking for barrels. It was a game changer for my life and my motivation to be on the water. Getting barreled with surfing is just mind-blowing. With kiteboarding, it's so difficult, and getting a long barrel is even harder. But I had set the challenge for myself. I wanted barrels. I wanted proper, standing, tall barrels. 

"I discovered a wave in Cape Verde, where I'm from. I had seen it for many years, but it was a really hard wave, and I was always scared to go there. I had excuses for everything and anything to avoid it. But one day, it was on. I went there. It was three times overhead; I was shaking, I was nervous, I couldn't do anything. I got two or three waves, and I felt like I was literally about to die. But I was watching the wave and starting to understand, and Keahi was around, which added some motivation. After 40 minutes, I was chasing the biggest wave of the day to get the biggest barrel of the day. It was the best day of my life. 

"Since then, I've been adjusting my gear to what works better in the barrel. The gear and technique are very important. I normally don't ride bigger than a 10m, especially if it's offshore. If it's very offshore, 10m is already too much. I would practise my position on the wave, how to stall, and where to stay. I was doing a lot of visualisation and also trying to mentalise a little bit. It requires a lot of effort, energy, and courage, but it's the best thing ever. It's addictive!

"Sometimes, when I'm on the wave, I don't look anywhere; I just look ahead. I say to myself, don't look; just go. Just pull in. Just hold it, grab your board on the rail, put your butt on the wave, bar in front, kite low, so it's not touching the lip too much. Push, close your eyes if you need to, and just go. Just go, and it will happen. And I ended up scoring some pretty sick barrels over the past few years. We have some good ones in Cape Verde, where there is a sandbar. They're not super big, but they're long and travel, and it's really, really good.

"My biggest dream is to go to Fiji and get big-time barreled - standing tall, touching the roof, for five seconds. Wow, that would be the dream. As a goofy rider, it must be wild. As I said, it's the best thing ever. For real, the best thing ever. It's the best feeling; there's so much adrenaline and focus for such a few seconds. It's crazy. Mind-blowing. I don't think there is anything that beats that feeling. It's just insane."

The absolute enthusiasm when Matchu speaks about riding barrels is hard to translate to the page, but we hope you can feel it when you read his words! Speaking of Fiji, Keahi de Aboitiz, who appears on the cover of this issue, scored that barrel shot in Fiji. While he's no stranger to riding barrels (Tunnel Vision, anyone?), this was his first time under the lip on his new kit. Keahi tells us about his trip to Fiji and what it took to get the shot!

Keahi de Aboitiz: "After almost 15 years with my long-term sponsor Cabrinha, it was time for a change, and it's been a pleasure joining the F-One team for Moona and I so far for 2023.

"With a solid forecast on the cards, I thought, what better way to put the new kite gear through its paces than by taking a trip back to Fiji?! I hadn't been back for a good kite swell since filming for Tunnel Vision in 2019, so I knew I had to pull the trigger, and Moona and Reo decided to join for some fun. Although it can be hard to lock down a good forecast too far out, Fiji is a place I've grown to love thanks to its diversity with amazing conditions for all the water sports I do. If you go with all the gear and mindset to make the most of whatever is thrown at you, you can't go wrong between kiting, wing foiling, surfing and foiling. 

"We loaded up the bags with everything and made the trek down for what looked like a very fun run of waves. Like always, the forecast changed as we got closer to the swell, but with a couple afternoons of light wind mixed with a solid swell, we rolled the dice and hoped for the best out at Cloudbreak. For me, I've grown to love challenging days like this. Big wash through sets keeps the surfers away, and lighter winds mean the waves stay extra glassy. If you can sift through the wash throughs and find the waves that push back onto the ledge, there are some amazing gems to be found. 

"We linked up with my good friend Stu Johnson and decided it was worth trying to shoot wide angle amongst the wash throughs on the off chance of scoring gold. He paid some tax with a few big sets on the head, but massive props to him for being in the spot and nailing a couple of insane shots. So far, so good testing out the new Shadow and Bandit S from F-One, and they definitely held their own in some trying conditions. After trading off on some perfect barrels, it was time to call it a day and focus on foiling and wing foiling for the rest of the trip. It's always a gamble on trips like this, but you gotta love when it pays off! Until next time, Fiji!"

We know it takes skill and courage to kite in barrels and a spot that has barreling waves and wind - already a difficult ask! But, the recipe for a perfect barrel isn't complete yet. Equipment is critical, and next up, we're hearing about one of the industry's most loved wave kites. 

The Ozone Reo was the industry's first down-the-line kite made purely for wave riding, and you can't visit a perfect wave spot without seeing Reos on the water; they go hand in hand! Ozone has just dropped two new versions of the Reo, the Reo V7 and the V7 Ultra X. Who better to tell us about this new kite than Reo Stevens?

Reo Stevens: "Anytime a new kite comes into my hands, whether it's the first production sample or a "one-off" prototype, I prefer to know nothing about it. First, unbiased impressions are always the most revealing. So with that in mind, when I first received the first production samples of the new Reo V7 Ultra X, I had no idea or clue what the "Ultra X" was or any hints at what the upgrades would be for the new V7. I immediately noticed how much lighter the kite was the moment I took it out of the bag to pump it up for the first time. While connecting the pump, I noticed the different material and got excited as I know the difference that a material change can make.

"Immediately after launching, I could feel the enhanced response time - even though my current Reo V6 kites were new, this new Ultra X material made the kite feel a level above in stiffness and response time, making the kite feel "extra crispy" and "extra new". I knew there was something special here, grabbed my board and quickly ran to the water for my first session on the new model.

"The Reo V7 Ultra X has the same "Reo" feel that we've all grown to love but with subtle enhancements of those beloved characteristics: smooth and predictable drift, direct feeling in the bar (knowing that you're actually turning your kite through feel) - both must haves while wave riding so you can focus on riding the wave and not looking at flying the kite. Big takeaways for me on the first sessions were that I noticed the lighter kite increases the light wind drift (it's simply lighter and needs less wind), the depower throw was longer (the distance between power on and power off), and there was greater stability in the kite when fully depowered. The direct response also increased my low end on the kite, not from sheeting in, but rather in its ability to generate power by moving through the wind window. 

"If you're serious about your wave riding, I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade to the Reo V7 Ultra X!"

Thanks to these three legends of the barrel for joining us in this special feature! The photos speak for themselves, but knowing what it takes to get the shots is worth quite a bit more than a thousand words... 1644, to be exact.

 

By Crystal Veness
Editor at IKSURFMAG, Crystal Veness hails from Canada but is based in South Africa. When she isn't busy kitesurfing or reporting on the latest industry news for the mag, she is kicking back somewhere at a windy kite beach or working on creative media projects.

Comments