Matt Kechele
Matt Kechele
www.kechelesurfboards.com
Matt Kechele knows the future when he sees it. "Kelly Slater? I put him on my Team when he was very young," says Matt Kechele, and smiles quietly to himself. "I taught him everything he knows" Just kidding, but he isn't. Kechele was 19 years old and an established East Coast pro and shaper for Quiet Flight when he saw a nine-year-old kid pulling multiple 360s in gutless Cocoa Beach surf. Kechele knew the future when he saw it and he took Kelly Slater and brother Sean under his wing, shaping them boards and chaperoning them up and down the coast to surf and compete. Slater left the shadow of Kechele's wing at 16 and moved on to do all that he has done and is doing. Kechele went on to establish himself as one the East Coast's most prolific surfer/ shapers. In 2002 he saw the future again when the SurfTech system began to catch on.
Kechele claims Greg Loehr, Richard Munson, Nat Young, Darrel Bulger and Al Merrick as his shaping influences. He made his first board at 13, in his bedroom. "I made a mess and my parents were pissed!" He has made boards all around the world, in Florida, Hawaii, Japan and Peru, and he shaped Kelly Slater's boards through a good part of his teen years.
Kechele figures he has shaped over 12,000 boards in his career. He signed on with SurfTech in 2002, and now produces the 60 Performance Module, the 510 Stub Fish and the 72 Pug Performer. "At first I was a little skeptical on the new molding technology and concerned as to where the whole line would go and what type of longevity they can keep," Kechele said. "But through time they have proven longevity ! I'm really happy with the reproduction of all my master shapes and how they translated in not only the cloning of my designs, and the strength to weight ratio they offer.. I've been riding them on some recent surftrips "they ride excellent"! I'm really stoked on my SurfTech Kechs."
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