Overview
“It’s amazing. I would say this is the best Dakhla I’ve seen since I’ve come here and we had competition.”
Held from September 27 to October 2, 2022, in Dakhla, Morocco (Western Sahara), the 2022 GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Dakhla served as the opening stop of the two-event 2022 Qatar Airways GKA Kite-Surf World Tour, bringing together 41 elite wave riders from 15 nations. After light winds and nightfall disrupted the previous year’s edition at Westpoint, the 2022 event was blessed with three consecutive days of 3-to-4-foot swells and 20-to-30-knot winds—delivering what tour officials hailed as the best conditions in Dakhla competition history.
Location and Conditions
Staged directly in front of the Westpoint Dakhla Hotel at Foum El Oued, the world-renowned right-hand point break fired from the opening horn.
Whereas the 2021 event required exhausting upwind beach sprints in marginal winds, the first major North Atlantic swell of the 2022 season arrived right on cue. Long, peeling 3-to-4-foot (head-high to overhead) walls at a 12-to-13-second period connected all the way from the outside point through the hollow inside section, groomed by steady side-to-side-offshore winds.
Particularly during the afternoon incoming push toward high tide, the point offered endless canvases for vertical lip attacks, with riders rotating between 7-meter and 11-meter kites.
Format and Competitors
Contested under a “100% Pure Wave” format, each 18-to-20-minute heat counted a rider’s best two out of up to 10 waves (for a maximum of 20 points).
Judges rewarded vertical turns in the most critical sections of the wave, speed generation, and authentic surf flow without relying excessively on kite pull. Round 1 winners advanced directly to Round 3, while Round 4 onward featured sudden-death one-on-one man-on-man heats.
The men’s fleet was led by defending 2021 World Champion James Carew (who had clinched his maiden world crown at Dakhla the previous autumn), reigning Dakhla event winner Airton Cozzolino—sporting a dramatic new short haircut after shearing off his iconic dreadlocks—2016 World Champion Matchu Lopes, Canadian veteran Reece Myerscough, and a stacked Brazilian contingent including Sebastian Ribeiro, Pedro Matos, four-time Brazilian Kite Wave champion Artur Morais, and Gabriel Benetton, alongside local Moroccan qualifiers.
The women’s draw featured newly crowned 16-year-old Big Air World Champion Capucine Delannoy and Brazil’s Marcela Witt—who had shared 1st place in the pitch-black 2021 Dakhla final—alongside returning Swedish standout Johanna-Catharina Edin, Canada’s Frances Kelly, Switzerland’s Camille Losserand, and Brazilian charger Kesiane Rodrigues.
Highlights and Epic Battles
1. Brazilian Firepower and Airton Cozzolino vs. Nephew Hendrick Lopes
Brazilian goofy- and regular-footers set the pace across the opening two days.
Lifelong surfer Sebastian Ribeiro defeated compatriot Artur Morais in Round 3 before unleashing the highest heat total of the tournament in Round 5 against Yaris Dell’Omo—linking a 9.57 and a 9.00 for a massive 18.57-point two-wave score.
In Women’s Round 3, Brazil’s Kesiane Rodrigues posted the highest women’s heat total of the event at 15.73 points with vertical frontside hacks.
Meanwhile, Men’s Round 3 featured a milestone family clash between Airton Cozzolino and his nephew, young Cape Verdean talent Hendrick Lopes. Dropping the highest single wave score of the heat, uncle Airton Cozzolino made sure to keep family bragging rights intact.
“Today I got a great heat with my nephew, you know. Yeah, that was the first ever, man! I didn’t let him win because, you know, he’s gonna be like, ‘Oh, I win you for all life!’ So I didn’t give him a chance.”
— Airton Cozzolino
2. Local Hero Mohammed Ali Beqqali’s Fairytale Run and Quarterfinal Blockbusters
The breakout story of the tournament belonged to Westpoint local legend Mohammed Ali Beqqali.
Fighting through Round 4, Mohammed Ali Beqqali met rising Brazilian star Gabriel Benetton—who would later become the 2024 GKA Kite-Surf World Champion—in Round 5. Downsizing to a 9-meter kite for optimal board feel, Mohammed Ali Beqqali threaded long, flowing frontside combinations all the way to the inside to eliminate Gabriel Benetton, and then backed it up in the quarterfinals by defeating Brazilian powerhouse Pedro Matos in front of an ecstatic Moroccan crowd to reach the final four.
In the marquee quarterfinal clash of the men’s draw, in-form Brazilian Sebastian Ribeiro went head-to-head with defending event winner Airton Cozzolino. In a tense, wave-starved heat, Sebastian Ribeiro maximized every section with surgical precision to eliminate Airton Cozzolino. Elsewhere in the quarterfinals, Matchu Lopes defeated Reece Myerscough and reigning World Champion James Carew knocked out South Africa’s Matt Maxwell.
3. Women’s Quarterfinal Upsets and Semifinals
On the morning of Finals Day (Day 3), Canada’s Frances Kelly celebrated her birthday by pulling off a major quarterfinal upset over top scorer Kesiane Rodrigues, while French tour rookie Zoé Bazile eliminated 2021 co-winner Marcela Witt.
Frances Kelly then defeated Johanna-Catharina Edin in Semifinal 1 to reach her first-ever GKA final, while Capucine Delannoy held off compatriot Zoé Bazile in an all-French Semifinal 2 to return to the Dakhla title match.
Show Detailed Competition Results (Spoiler Alert)
“Winning this event means a lot. I had some unfinished business here in Dakhla. I didn’t take the win last year; well, I had to share the first place. So winning it this year means a lot to me and it was the first event of the year, so it’s great starting the season well.”
— Capucine Delannoy
■ Women’s Final & Mini-Final: Capucine Delannoy Settles Unfinished Business
In the women’s mini-final, Sweden’s Johanna-Catharina Edin defeated rookie Zoé Bazile to claim 3rd place on her return to the tour after a year away.
As the afternoon wind cranked for the Women’s Grand Final (Capucine Delannoy vs. Frances Kelly), 16-year-old Capucine Delannoy made a decisive tactical call early in the heat to sprint to the beach and change down to a smaller kite. In complete control on the steep inside walls, Capucine Delannoy posted a 7.87 on her way to a 15.72-point total—putting birthday finalist Frances Kelly (10.22 pts) into a combination situation to claim the outright Dakhla crown that darkness had denied her the year before.
■ Men’s Semifinals & Final: Boxing Haymakers and James Carew’s Triumph Over Teammate Sebastian Ribeiro
In Men’s Semifinal 1, Sebastian Ribeiro ended local hero Mohammed Ali Beqqali’s fairytale run, while 2021 World Champion James Carew defeated 2016 World Champion Matchu Lopes in Semifinal 2 with wave scores of 8.27 and 7.50.
In the 3rd-place mini-final (Matchu Lopes vs. Mohammed Ali Beqqali), commentator Jo Ciastula channeled boxing legend Muhammad Ali—exclaiming “Fly like a bee, sting like a wasp! Boxing gloves are off, knuckle punches!”—during a thrilling back-and-forth exchange before Matchu Lopes locked in an 8.33-point wave in the dying minutes to secure 3rd place on the podium.
The 22-minute Men’s Grand Final pitted Duotone teammates Sebastian Ribeiro and reigning World Champion James Carew against each other in what the broadcast booth billed as “Rocky Balboa against Mike Tyson.”
Trading synchronized snaps from the opening exchange, both riders pushed the pace in pumping surf. Although Sebastian Ribeiro had dominated the earlier rounds with effortless 9-point rides, James Carew saved his most explosive performance for last—unleashing ferocious frontside hacks on the biggest set waves of the afternoon to post two 9-point scores. Even though James Carew admitted on the beach that he came out of the water thinking Sebastian Ribeiro had beaten him, the Australian’s two 9-point bombs sealed his first-ever Dakhla event victory and the early lead in the 2022 World Championship race.
Following the main event, riders returned to Westpoint over the weekend for a relaxed “Super-Session” expression session blending wave riding and strapless freestyle.
“Yeah, I mean, fuck, the heat was insane! I think I got some of the best waves I’ve ever had here, and fuck, so good to have a result here. But I don’t know, I thought I lost—I came in thinking he beat me!”
— James Carew
[Men’s Division Final Results]
1st: James Carew (Australia)
2nd: Sebastian Ribeiro (Brazil)
3rd: Matchu Lopes (Spain / Cape Verde)
4th: Mohammed Ali Beqqali (Morocco)
[Women’s Division Final Results]
1st: Capucine Delannoy (France)
2nd: Frances Kelly (Canada)
3rd: Johanna-Catharina Edin (Sweden)
4th: Zoé Bazile (France)
🔗 Related Link: GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Dakhla, Morocco – Event Summary – GKA Kite World Tour
Search Aliases: 2022 GKA Kite-Surf World Cup Dakhla, 2022GKAKite-SurfWorldCupDakhla