We are excited and happy to announce that Mateus Isaac from Brazil will join our Starboard Dream Team! The 27-year-old slalom and foil racer has been competing 5 years in the PWA World Tour in Slalom and Foil. The 2015 Youth World Champion also took his first victory in the PWA Foil World Cup in Korea in 2018. Besides the racing in the PWA it will be interesting to see Mateus competing in the iQFOiL as well. With a Formula race background and years of slalom racing in the PWA we would think he has it all for a bright future on the race court! We asked Mateus some questions about his windsurfing life and his transfer to Starboard.
Hi Mateus! Welcome to the Starboard Dream Team! You have been competing in the PWA World Tour in Slalom and Foil for 5 years now. How did you start windsurfing?
My dad is a Brazilian windsurfer and he has windsurfed for already 40 years. He is 60 now and still sailing a lot. When I was 3-4 years old he used to put me on his board and sail with me. I grew up watching him windsurfing and having fun on the board with him. I started for real when I was 7 years old and I got my own board. I did it for about a year, but I was super young and I was mostly playing football here in Brazil, so I stopped until I was 10 years again. Then I picked up windsurfing again and I never stopped! The place I grew up sailing in Sao Paulo, was fully race-oriented. I started racing in Formula until I was 16 years old, and after I started racing in slalom. When I was 18 I moved from Brazil to Maui for school. When I was there I also learned to wave sail in Hookipa. I love the combination of racing and wave sailing. I am lucky to sail a lot and live in the great spots. I spend most of my year traveling, but I’m staying most in Brazil and Hawaii, Maui. From now on I will try to spend more time at home in Brazil and travel from here to all the contests.
How is the Brazilian windsurf community?
It used to be pretty big. Then it got smaller, but now it’s growing again. The windsurfers here are also very motivated for foiling. I see a lot of old windsurfers coming back to the sport with foiling. It’s amazing to see that they start again!
You have been racing for many years already in Formula, Slalom and Foil. What are your windsurfing goals for the upcoming years?
The ultimate goal is to do well in the PWA Slalom and Foil tour and the iQFOiL racing. I also want to help develop windsurfing more in Brazil. This country is so big and windsurfing has a huge potential to grow bigger here in Brazil. We can do so many things with events and training. There are a lot of good places for windsurfing along the coastline in Brazil! I want to help show the Brazilians how much fun and amazing windsurfing is. Brazilian life is a typical beach life, and we have a lot of wind! The combination could not be better!
What else do you do besides sailing?
My parents have some restaurants in Sao Paulo in Brazil where I grew up, so when I have time I help them. But 90% of the time I´m full-time windsurfing. With that I mean training, visualizing windsurfing, organizing trips and training.
Which Starboard boards will you use and have you tried them already?
The boards I will use the most will be the iSonics, Foil Slalom and iQFOiL. So far I have tried the iQFOiL board and the iSonics and I loved them! They are super good and they will be amazing boards for me to do my best during training and competitions.
Thank you so much Mateus for taking part in the Starboard Dream Team for the upcoming 2021! With your great talent and competitive mind, we can only look forward to the future with you on our team! We wish you a lot of windy days and great racing!
MATEUS ISAAC`S BEST RESULTS
Formula Youth World Champion 2012
PWA Youth World champion 2015
1st victory at PWA Foil World Cup Korea 2018
5th ranked PWA Foil 2018
9th ranked PWA Slalom 2018
10th ranked PWA Foil 2019
12th ranked PWA Slalom 2019
6x Brazilian champion
4x South American champion
