Matt Kechele Surfboards
| Matt Kechele Surfboards | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1979 |
| Location | Cocoa Beach, Florida |
| Shaper | Matt Kechele |
| Category | Shortboards |
| Website | http://www.kechelesurfboards.com/ |
History of Matt Kechele Surfboards
Although majority of surfboard shapers hold headquarters out in California or Australia, Matt Kechele Surfboards takes its roots in Cocoa Beach, Florida in the beginning of the 1980’s. Matt started surfing at a young age of 8. He competed competitively on both the local and national level and remained a strong hold with the East Coast surfers, eventually gaining the title of ASP East in 1992.
Along with surfing, he also skateboarded frequently where he first experimented with aeriel tricks. During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, his aerial experimentations were not taken seriously, but nonetheless, Matt continued to push the constraints of what could be done in the world of action sports.
Cocoa Beach is also where Kelly Slater grew up and first surfed on the Florida beaches. Matt first noticed Kelly out surfing and performing backhand 360’s in the water. He would shape surfboards for Kelly and his older brother for several years, and help provide them both with quality and performance boards to perform aerial tricks. Little, did anyone know that Kelly would eventually earn 11 world titles.
Matt is most known for popularizing and pioneering the aerial aspect of surfing, which to the present, continues to evolve with more complex maneuvers and tricks in the action sports world.
Overview of Matt Kechele Surfboards
Majority of Matt’s surfboards are shortboards, with varied creative board art design to each of the surfboards.
- UFO
- The Sprocket
- The Grinder
- The Squish
- Diamond Cutter
- Falcon 4
- Stub Fish
- Electro Retro
- The Pug Performer
- Performance Module
- Retro
- Mackarel
- UFO Big Boy
- Mini Malibu
- Performance Longboard