ESM Interview

It's less than a half-hour before duskprime feeding time for the schools of sharks lurking below the waters of South Melbourne Beach, FLa time when most surfers are trying as hard as humanly possible not to freak out the toothy natives: paddling slower, holding their pee, refraining from wearing bright colors. And Matt Kechele and Nick Guilarte are being as loud as can be.

Seated atop a 96 Seadoo XP Jet-Ski, the driver grits his teeth as he carves a wide U-turn back toward the beach. Angling parallel to the shoreline, he scopes his mark and hits the gas. "Yeah yeah, gun it!" screams the surfer in-tow behind, his youthful chirp stirring the otherwise silent seascape every bit as much as the bike's 1100 cc engine. With a three-foot bump forming some 70 feet away, he clears that distance in a matter of seconds, letting go of the rope at peak velocity, and exploding into space with a flat-spin dismount--rotating 360 degrees vertically, 180 degrees horizontally--and crashing in the flats behind the wave. Clearly amused, the driver returns to pick up the grom he just sling-shotted. The grom surfaces with no bruises, no abrasions, only a smile as wide as the Indian River itself. Then he grabs the rope for another go. It's a fairly normal scenario for these two, who've been at the forefront of the tow-at movement since the beginning. And as word of the phenomenon spreads like a virus along the Eastern Seaboard and beyond, it's becoming more and more commonplace. Now, every restless grom from Long Beach, NY, to Buxton, NC, can regularly be seen indulging. The only difference with this particular grom? He's nearly 44 years old.

Matthew T. Kechele was born on July 23rd, 1962 in Rockledge, FL. In his four-plus decades of life on this planet, he's filled many roles: surfer, shaper, pioneer, pro, mentor, champion, innovator, business owner, promoter, coach, inventor, legend. In other words, if East Coast surfing ever had a Renaissance Man, he's it. This May, Eastern Surf conducted a long-overdue interview with the world's oldest grom. The freak whose influence helped spawn the freak of all freaks. The most dedicated and multidimensional surfing enthusiast to ever hail from the East Coast: Matt Kechele.

“Kech’s shaped so many careers, from Kelly’s to whoever the new up-and-comer is. Furthermore, he’s shaped what it means to be a pro from the East Coast and is still defining that with his innovative ideas. He’s so ‘on it’ that his motivation, determination, and dedication inspire me to this day. Kech was pioneering aerial surfing when I was an infant, and he’s still pushing the limits in everything he does—whether it’s putting on a contest, doing tow-ats/ tow-ins, or chasing hurricanes. That standard of living is inspirational for us all.” –Will Tant

PART 1: SPACE COAST IGNITION

ESM: It makes sense to start from the beginning.

MK: When I was 8, Pete Hodgson's brother wanted to hang out with my sister at the beach, so he gave Pete the duty of teaching me to surf. Cocoa Beach was a unique little surf community. Ron Jon's was the main shop, but there were others like Dick Catri's Primo Surf Shop and Gary Propper's Lightning Bolt East. Quite a few guys made surfboards out of their garages, and there were lots of advanced surfers in my neighborhood. I could go down to the end of the street and see what was considered world-class riding at the time. I recall when I was 13 chatting with Gary Propper, who told me he was a professional surfer. He was one of the first guys getting paid by Hobie. That left a big impression on me. Then, Rich and Phil Salick opened Salick Surf Shop at the end of 3rd Street, where there was a little hotbed of talent. I remember bringing one of my first homemade boards to show those guys, and they just held back from laughing. But they asked me to be on their team, so through them I was able to start riding Bob Carson's boards, who was a really reputable shaper. We had a solid team--guys like Tommy Black, Greg Taylor, Tony Graham, Joe Webb, Bruce Valuzzi. Even Kelly (Slater) got his first custom board through the Salicks when he was like 6.

ESM: Describe Sebastian Inlet in the early days.

MK: I was 13, and Rich and Phil took me down in the back of their Datsun truck. There were just fishing shacks, a little bait shop, and that was it. It was a totally different scene than Cocoa Beach. For me, it was like going on a surf trip--shifting peaks up and down the beach, and amazing water clarity. I saw David Nuuhiwa surfing that first day, so I could tell that's where all the top talent congregated--Barry Wolf, Greg Mungall, and some top Californians and Hawaiians came over for the Florida Pro events--Reno Abellira, Larry Bertlemann, Mike Purpus. From that point on, I tried to find a ride down there any chance I could to watch those guys. I'd rob my mom's piggy bank, find some old guys hanging around the Islander Hut, offer to buy their gas--whatever it took to get down to the Inlet.

“Kech gave me a little piece of advice at the beginning of my career. I was struggling in a bunch of contests,and he pulled me aside. It was five minutes of instructions, that’s it. But ultimately, it’s what got me out of my slump and launched my pro career. Thanks, Kech.” –Noah Snyder

ESM: How did that introduction to the Inlet and the advanced surfing that went down there alter your own course?

MK: Jeff Klugel, Jackie Grayson, and a lot of guys who surfed there were with Ocean Avenue, a more progressive surf/ skate team that had pretty much every East Coast Champion. Eventually, they offered me a job packing and shipping skateboards for Bruce Walker, and that's when Greg Loehr started making my surfboards. It was a pretty cool time to be a surfer. Once or twice a year, we'd roll down to the Surfside Playhouse and see movies like Five Summer Stories. Guys would bring beers, and it would be standing room only. This was back when the audience would get really excited and hoot and scream. You just couldn't beat it. Good energy to get your psych on.

PART 2: TRICKS ARE FOR KIDS

ESM: Describe your first aerial. What inspired it, and how did it change your surfing?

MK: I can't honestly remember my first, but I have a funny suspicion it happened by accident with the way the wedges are at Sebastian, especially on the lefts. Alan Gelfand skateboarded for Bruce Walker, and there was a lot of buzz about these no-handed ollie airs he was doing. It wasn't anything intentional. Living in that surf/ skate environment and Sebastian Inlet basically being a moving skatepark, it was only natural to start experimenting. Bruce Walker saw me, and really started encouraging me. He'd take pictures to try to pull together a magazine article for this surf/ skate magazine called Action Now he used to contribute to. It's funny, there were lots of different skateboarding approaches, like today: you had guys who just wanted to cruise and guys who wanted to get technical. I was in the middle. I appreciated the fact skateboarding could really complement your surfing. In 1980, Klugel and I actually took apart windsurfer straps and drilled the rubber inserts into our surfboards. We'd put handles on our boards for rail grabs, all kinds of crazy stuff. Mark Richards started winning on twin-fins, and Greg Loehr recognized those were the way to go for the types of waves we had here. So I asked him to make me a twin with a skateboard tail. Kind of reluctant, he finally made me one a year later, and that ended up being what I preferred to ride. I got my own model going through Ocean Avenue, the "Kech Air" series. Bruce Walker even paid me a royalty, and I went out on the road with him selling and promoting the boards.

“He’s a textbook example of a self-made man—going from being a green surf kid to a successful leader in the surfing world. Matt’s made a lot of good business decisions, resulting in a very respected surfboard line, and he’s diversified into many other products and services. Matt really is the prototypical model for other young guys to follow in our industry. I can’t think of anyone else who’s worked as hard and been deservedly rewarded.” –Larry Pope

ESM: Speaking of "Kech Air," it behooves us to bring up the infamous graffiti at the Inlet, "Silly Kechele, Tricks Are For Kids." When did you feel like you transcended that "kid" sterotype?

MK: When I went to the Ocean Avenue Team, which was the best decision I ever made. Opportunities starting popping up left and right. I learned a lot from Bruce about business, and Lewis Graves was very instrumental, too, pulling together what many regard as the first photo incentive contract, where if you got a photo in the magazine, and the Ocean Avenue label was showing, you'd get paid. We were all ecstatic about that. Sundek started sponsoring the whole team, and that eventually gave me the opportunity to do the World Tour. And once my parents saw surfing was the direction I wanted to go, they offered me incentive for graduating: a free trip to Hawaii. By 1980, Pat Mulhern and Johnny Futch had already been to the North Shore a couple times, so they took me around and taught me to surf some of the spots. Guys like Gerry Lopez, Jackie Dunn, and Rory Russell were still surfing Pipeline then--guys I grew up watching on the silver screen. I feel fortunate to have surfed it in the golden days with 15 guys, which was fairly crowded back then. And I felt confident in the fact that I saw movies of Greg Loehr surfing Pipe, so he was able to make me some good boards. But it's just like any kid's first trip to Hawaii--you think you're gonna jump right out and start getting waves. I checked it one day, and it was about eight-feet. Super excited, I grabbed my board, ran back, and froze. Guys were just eating crap. When it's right there in front of you, that sound of the lip cracking when it hits the bottom, well, I started psyching myself out. Then this guy from Miami who people called "1 Adam 12," one of the underground, blackshorts Pipe guys, recognized me and invited me out. I was like, "I don't know, this is pretty intimidating. Do you think I can handle it?" But he got me out in the lineup, showed me the safety zones and what to do when losing your board, and I got some good waves right off the bat--a couple six-footers and maybe one eight-footer my first session out there. From that point on, I surfed there every chance I could.

“Matt Kechele is a world-class human. He’s mentored me as a surfer and as a person since I was 14 years old. He was like a father figure to me. As far as his surfing goes, I think that a 15-year-old kid is stuck in Matt’s body. That guy loves to surf more than anyone I know. When we go to Fiji each year, he’ll do five-hour sessions, no worries. He tells me when I go in for lunch to just bring him a Power Bar when I come back out—an absolute madman.” –Todd Kline

ESM: When did you ultimately decide to charge the ASP World Tour?

MK: When I went out to the OP Pro at Huntington Beach in 1982. The Trials determined the seeding for the pro event, so I surfed through those and went up against Tommy Curren, who was the big buzz because it was his first big exposure to the big leagues, too. It was pretty controversial because we collided on one wave. Tom ended up winning, and I got 2nd. Later, I went up against Shaun Tomson, who beat me by half a point. I was doing airs, and the judges were actually scoring me pretty well. People were digging it.

ESM: Well, that was the year Cheyne Horan won the contest with a 360, so people were already starting to think differently in terms of progressive surfing.

MK: Yeah, but when I got on tour, I realized doing aerials in competition wasn't feasible, because of the makeability factor. It was regarded as a really risky maneuver. They were more about Tommy Carroll and rail-gouging. So I worked hard on totally changing my whole approach. I figured I could always go back to doing aerials, but I wanted to learn to surf off my rail and really fine-tune my surfing in general. Back when I did the East Coast circuit, I wanted to be one of the best small-wave surfers in the world, and I feel I definitely was at one time, because I won a lot of contests and beat some top pros. I felt since there was money to be made, that was a strength to capitalize on. But on the World Tour, I wanted to learn how to ride big waves, be a good barrel rider, just fill in the blanks.

ESM: Who was your main traveling partner?

MK: Charlie Kuhn. As an amateur, he won the East Coast Championships, and he asked me at one point, "Hey Kech, what does it mean when you turn pro?" I don't really regard anybody as a professional until you start making money--when you can look at it like you can actually make a living doing this. Charlie and I became friends, and it was a good opportunity for us to team up, learn the ropes together, share the expenses, and learn how to travel. It wasn't easy back then. You couldn't just pick up a phone book in Australia and rent a motel. It was all trial-and-error, and after the first year, we started getting the hang of it. We both posted good results, but Charlie ended up doing really well. He actually did quite a bit better than I did, even making the Top 16 in 1986. I was certainly happy for him because he was my best friend, but at the same time I felt like that could've been me. Charlie just got his contest game down. I kind of lost my focus. I was more into going to all these spots I'd dreamt about. The contests were usually held in crappy waves, and a half-hour down the road there'd be Black Rock, the Australian Pipeline. I couldn't wait to get away from the contests and surf these spots, y'know?

“Kech has an amazing passion for surfing, and specifically, the progression of surfing. It really shows in the water, as he’s still pushing as hard as ever. Quiksilver should kick everyone off the team who can’t keep up with him.”
–Shea Lopez

ESM: When did you finally decide to bail?

MK: I loved the energy behind the freesurfs. I was almost trying to gauge my surfing off those, because in the contests people were taking a more consistent and conservative approach, trying to get three waves to the beach. I knew my level was up there with some of the best, and I was pretty consistent in the five years I did it: finished 32nd one year, and 33rd the year they took the Top 32. Charlie's sponsorships were starting to dry up a little bit, and there was still a good East Coast circuit to make money. Plus the national tour, the PSAA, was starting to take off, so we looked at that a little closer like, "We can stay home and actually make just as much money without all the traveling expenses." You gotta understand, one year there were 32 events on the tour. I did 23 contests in 1984. It was grueling and really expensive. In hindsight, I wished I would've stayed on. But I had a good run. I was one of the only guys to beat Tommy Curren man-on-man in 1985, at the Record Bar Pro in Wrightsville Beach, NC. There were left barrels, and I won by .2 point and placed 5th, one of my better results. I also got 9th at Margaret River and won the $1200 "Best Maneuver." Up against Tommy Carroll, I caught this wave right at the hooter and did this layback snap in the barrel, and somehow came out of the barrel clean. So coming back East, I had a lot of confidence, and Charlie and I just started trading off wins. In 1992, I won three contests back-to-back, enough to secure the ASP-East Championship.

PART 3: SHAPING FUTURES

ESM: When did you first start shaping surfboards, and how did that ultimately evolve into your own company?

MK: Stripping old boards down and reshaping them in the backyard, that was just kind of a Cocoa Beach thing. We used to take the time to make these perfect lightning bolt pin lines on our boards. It's like we were convinced we surfed better if we had a bolt on our board [laughs]. That was the ultimate status symbol, because Lopez and everybody in Hawaii had them. When I got on Ocean Avenue, I realized my boards weren't adequate. I was still riding Greg's but started making my own more and more, and my friends asked me to make them some. I really enjoyed being around the whole surfboard factory environment. I figured if I got good at this, I might be able to make a living at it someday. Then Ocean Avenue burned down, which was a pity, because I felt like my whole career went up in flames, too. That place was such a big part of me. But when that door closed, another opened, and Quiet Flight offered me a job shaping in '83. I got my own model called "Matt Kechele Airline." Each year, I'd go to Japan to shape 45 or 50 boards, and that actually funded my way to do the Oz leg of the tour. It wasn't until '85 that Sundek offered me my own line, and that's when I came up with the Circle-K logo. They promoted the board and sold them through shops, then closed their doors two years later. Bill Yerkes told me, "Hey, it's your label, run with it." So in '87, I started my own company, and went to my first Surf Expo. That's when I met my wife, Diana. She was an Orlando girl doing modeling for Paradise Found bikini rep Doug Deal, and didn't know what to think of me, because she had heard about pro surfers and the reputations that come with them. But I was pretty serious about her, so I'd drive out to Orlando on the weekends to see her and sometimes she'd come here. We actually dated for seven years before we got married, so I guess I proved myself to be a loyal pro surfer [laughs]... But Diana's been incredible and super supportive of everything I've done--helping me out with special events for Quiksilver, doing my books. She's a real bright girl with a BA in college, and today she's pretty much running the show with Freak Traction. I'm lucky to have found such a good woman.

“Kech took a crew of us Quiksilver groms to Mexico 16 years ago, and it was huge. They say it was one of the biggest swells to come through still to this day, and Kech was just charging. I want to say he paddled out by himself, and got super tubed. I remember just tripping out, going ‘Whoa, this guy is heavy.’” –Peter Mendia

ESM: How did your relationship with Quiksilver come about?

MK: I've always been good friends with Danny Kwock. I remember reading about him and his whole crew at Newport, and he read about me and my crew at Sebastian, so we had kind of a mutual admiration for each other. When I went on tour, he got involved with marketing for Quiksilver. My sponsorship with Sundek dried up, so I called Danny saying if any opportunities opened up to keep me in mind. Some offers had come my way with other companies, but I wanted to wait it out and get with somebody really good, so I went for about two years without a sponsor. I don't even know how he tracked me down, but Danny called me up one hot summer day while I was shaping away at Steve Holloway's factory saying, "We want you to be like our PR guy back East! We'll set you up in a van and have you cruise up and down the coast visiting shops and doing events." Danny's a good conduit who was able to translate his vision to me. So I started doing clinics, expression sessions, and hosting little competitions where surfers from all parts of Florida would come to Brevard for the Surf Challenge series, and the winner would get a ticket to Hawaii. We took it pretty far, bringing televisions to the beach, videoing all the heats, and watching the footage afterwards. Another part of my job was scouting talent. That's when we got Todd Morcom, Pete Mendia, Ben Bourgeois--we had quite the team going on back then. Meanwhile, I was running up and down the coast doing video premieres, visiting surf shops, and doing a lot of different events while scouting for teamriders. I'm pretty sure I was the first guy to have an East Coast marketing job.

ESM: Which brings us to our next question: as your surfboard company grew and you branched out into other industry endeavors, how were you able to multitask so many things and still keep your primary job above water?

MK: It's all a balancing act, but one in the same, really. Oftentimes, I can kill two birds with one stone with all the contacts I've made through different projects. One avenue opens up the doors to another. Again, it's that creativeness of making surfboards that's kept me coming back. I feel like I've got an apprenticeship with some of the best boardbuilders in the world--guys like Loehr and Larry Pope--and I'm really thankful that I've been able to grow up with guys with such wisdom. I'm convinced Larry Pope's probably worked on more surfboards than anyone in the world, and for 10 years, Larry and I were more or less partners. He did the glasswork on all my boards from 1988 to '98, and he's taught me a lot about business. I've just been real blessed to be around people like that.

“An Old-getting, Young-staying, Still progressing, Quiksilver-sporting, Kechnology-promoting, Freak-pushing, Tow-at pioneering, Front foot leash-wearing, Air-innovating, Serious-coaching legend. One hell of a human being.” –Bryan Hewitson

ESM: How has the King of the Peak remained so popular for over a decade despite the comparatively unpopular skins format?

MK: It's neat being part of helping birth a new event and to see it carry on for that long. Kelly was part of the first one, of course, and that was to bring attention to Cocoa Beach High School. The city was thinking of closing it down, saying tax dollars were tight and the county wasn't giving enough funding, so we raised like 12 grand with that contest, giving people an opportunity to beat Kelly, who surfed 17 straight heats before getting beat. Then one year the ASP-East ran it, and it got canceled for lack of waves, so that's when I decided to take on the skins format. The surfers were looking for something different, and I think that's one of the biggest attributes to the success of the event. Anyone can win money, and the fact it only takes one wave rewards surfers for taking a chance and going for broke. Lately, I've been doing some skins formats with surf shops in other parts of Florida.

ESM: You mentioned Kelly Slater. When did you meet him and how have your impressions of him evolved over the years?

MK: His mom used to work flipping burgers at the Islander Hut at the end of 3rd Street, right where I grew up. He was just this little beach rat hanging out building sand castles. He was a cute-looking kid--super dark skin, a fit little guy--but nobody paid much attention to him. I think he picked up on the energy level of there being lots of good surfers around. It makes you realize how much a little bit of encouragement can do for a kid. You could see him progressing really quickly. He rode this boogie board/ twin-fin-looking thing; not even remotely close to a surfboard--but doing advanced surfing maneuvers on it. One day, I saw him do three backside 360s on one wave. I think he was 9. I wanted to make him something really functional like I was riding. He and Sean would come by the Quiet Flight shaping room and dilly-dally, making their own miniature surfboards out of the

"I’ve seen him ride some of the biggest surf an East Coaster has ever ridden—from closed-out Pipeline to 25-foot Waimea, when everyone else was running scared. From his fearless approach in big waves to his aerial antics at Sebastian Inlet—Kech’s not only a surfer, a coach, a trainer, a businessman, a legend, and a rival with the fiercest determination to succeed in or out of the water, but most of all, I’m proud to call him my friend.” –Charlie Kuhn

foam bones. Kelly was really into the whole process, so I always wanted to challenge him to think and tell me what he wanted to do on a wave and incorporate that into what he rode. In fact, one day he actually came to me with a picture he drew and asked me to make him a tail, a roundpin with the end snipped off. I started calling them "Slatertails," and they actually became quite popular amongst my models. Sundek started sponsoring Kelly, and soon there was a lot of buzz about how good he was getting--winning all these ESA Championships and things. I'd usually have a month or two between tour legs to take him and Sean up the coast, hitting all the shops and surfing Hatteras and other places. I was just trying to get him on some really good waves and help push his career. And he started reveling in it. We already had Kelly signing autographs at 13! People were just amazed at how good this kid was. Being on the tour, I felt really comfortable in claiming that Kelly was gonna win a world title, a world title, boasting that he'd be the first East Coast guy. But honestly, did I think he was gonna win two or three or seven? No, no way. Derek Hynd worked for Billabong at the time coaching Occy and all these rats, and he always had this little black book with him. I used to come up behind him and mess with him, like, "That book's not gonna do you any good in a couple years, mate..." I think a lot of guys discounted Kelly as just another guy from Florida. I don't think anyone really took him seriously until the '91 Pipe Masters--when he caught that humpback of a wave. I was on the shore watching, and the whole beach just went silent. No one had ever seen anything like that. To me, that was Kelly's moment.

ESM: Since helping mold the Slater brothers' futures and sending them on their way, you've taken a lot of surfers under your wing. Some wound up full-on success stories, while others became crash and burn cautionary tales. How can you attribute the rises and falls as far as making it in professional surfing, and what does that say about the support system kids have today?

MK: It's like raising a family. While you certainly hope for the best for all of them, the ratio of success for, say, a family of five always has one bad apple. I relate it to betting on horses. As far as making a career in surfing, it's such a longshot, even today. The best you can do is continue to encourage them, but at the same time, there's some kids that just don't have what it takes. And how do you tell a kid he doesn't have what it takes? You don't ever want to tell a kid that. And nowadays, with Tom Carroll signing the first million dollar contract and Kelly making multimillions, surfing came into its own as being a legitimate professional sport, encouraging more parents to get involved. With that, comes the parents interrupting when you're trying to coach, whispering in a kid's ear something other than what you're telling him. There's something to be said about surfing being a rebellious sport. It's that disconnection and freedom of just you and the wave. Throw in this other factor and it becomes you, the wave, and Mom on the beach. It's a triangle that changes the whole outlook for some of these kids. As much as parents might think they're helping their kids, in the end they might be distracting them. So you do the best you can, and again, it's like picking horses: out of 20 teamriders, you might have one that has WCT potential. And let's be realistic--there aren't very many surfers from the East Coast challenging the WQS. It comes back to encouraging kids to recognize and meet their full potential, and Kelly Slater should be the inspiration of all inspirations. For this kid from Cocoa Beach to take what he's learned at 3rd Street, and go out and apply it to Pipeline and other spots around the world goes to show it's out there for any kid.

“When Kelly and I were young and taking our trips up and down the East Coast with Matt—those were the best and funnest times anyone could ever ask for. Matt taught us a lot and believed in us. He’s the big brother I never had.” –Sean Slater

PART 4: KECHNOLOGY

ESM: When did you first get the idea to get a jet-ski and start experimenting with tow-ats?

MK: I got my ski in 1995 for summer flat spells, just so I could go out and do a real turn on a one-foot wave. I was hoping to get my wife to learn how to drive, but she was a little scared of the bike. Paul Reinecke and I were actually the first to do it. But I never wanted to promote it. I had mixed feelings in recognizing it as a unique sport in itself. I mean, I call it surfing, straight up. It's just a different way of approaching the wave. And living in Florida, it makes sense. Now, I look at it as a responsibility to do the right thing and encourage those willing to take it up to recognize that it's really dangerous, and you must respect paddle surfers, who are just going to the beach to catch waves and have fun. We have to enlighten the idiots out there on skis who ruin it for other surfers, bumming people out on what could be a really cool sport. It's gotten out of hand in some places, but everyone around here has been really cool. And the magazines have been real responsible in publishing the rules of the road.

ESM: You were instrumental in the manufacture of some of the second wave of traction pads, and you recently started Freak Traction. Where did you come by that name?

MK: "Freak" was something I thought of a long time ago, and I wanted to hold on to it and build a team that complements that name. I like what the word stands for. In surfing, it's always been the term defining the ultimate gifted athlete with exceptional ability to do things that are awe-inspiring. I worked with Kurt Wilson at X-Trak for nearly 12 years, so it's not new territory for me. And with Diana's communication and customer service skills, I wanted to give her her own deal, because she's been overshadowed a little bit with me and my own business. So I thought this would be a great opportunity to set her up. I stick with the marketing management and the team, and she pretty much runs the rest of it. It's a fun little endeavor we got going.

ESM: It should be a successful one, seeing as you're the prime example of better surfing through accessorizing.

MK: I've always been into gadgets and that experimental part of surfing--straps, hooks, Klugel and I putting handrails on our boards, different channel-bottoms, drilling venturi pipes through the board, air induction, tow-in boards for PWC assist--that stuff's always fascinated me. Then you throw a ski and a rope in, and there are just so many different ways to approach waves. There's such a broad frontier, and those things have rekindled some fire in me to stay at a level I've always hoped to be at going into my forties.

“The first time I met Kech in person was almost like meeting God. He was larger than life, and just had this aura of absolute confidence in the water. Years later, after being friends with him for ages, he’s still the same, an absolute professional in the water, on land, and in life. A legend, plain and simple.”

–Matt Keenan

PART 5: CONSTANT ELEVATION

ESM: You were the X-Games East Coast Team's winning head coach for three years in a row. What do you think that says about yourself and the individuals who composed your teams?

MK: I'm honored that Brad Gerlach chose me. Having competed on the tour, I think he recognized I've paid my dues. Coaching at that level is a new enlightenment for me. My whole goal was to be a conduit to bring everybody together and turn our personal relationships and camaraderie into one common goal. Communication as a team has been a big part of our success. Everybody is able to put their egos aside and work together. That's probably why we've beaten them every time, although every year, the point tallies keep tightening up. But I think it works more in our favor that it's at Puerto. And the fact that they have a larger window for the event leads us to believe it's probably gonna be bigger than last year, which also favors our team. Every guy I'm picking is real familiar with Puerto and those kind of conditions. Because it's for the East Coast, there's certainly a level of pride there, but as a coach, I have to do and say all the right things. It's not me, it's them. It's just me encouraging, communicating, and passing information down the line.

ESM: You were inducted into the East Coast Surfing Legends Hall of Fame in January. What does that mean to you personally?

“Even at his age, Kech is like a kid who just found out about surfing. That’s how amped he is.” –Damien Hobgood

MK: It's a great honor to be in the company of the greats and the greats to come. Being a public spokesperson has never been my thing, but that's another facet of my life that's just beginning to take shape. It's all come from surfing--from winning contests to stepping on the podium--but with that comes the responsibility of saying the right things and portraying our sport as a professional one. I've always been a shy person by nature, but surfing's taught me that you gotta speak to the public, show maturity, and recognize your image and how it reflects on the sport. I've seen that through the efforts of some really legitimate professionals, like Shaun Tomson and Mark Richards, who were able to convey those responsibilities of being a legend. That's what I must do in order to honor my inclusion with the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame.

ESM: Yet unlike a lot of the guys in that group, you're still pushing boundaries like no other East Coast surfer your age, or any East Coast surfer period, for that matter. What's the key to staying stoked in your golden years?

MK: It all goes back to those days of walking down to the beach from my house and thinking about what I wanted to achieve each session: "I'm gonna learn a new trick today..." "I'm gonna learn a new way to ride a wave..." I still do that today. I'm continually wanting to learn a new maneuver, new ways to do a turn, different ways to approach a flip. The aspect of hunting down waves is very much alive for me. When we do get that one special hurricane spinning off the coast or the fronts line up right, I want to be at the right place at the right time with the right equipment. It all stems back from when I was a kid just trying to find a ride to the Inlet. For me, that was an opportune moment, like, "Yeah, I'm finally getting to go to Sebastian and surf the best waves around." If there's one thing I could pass on to the next generation of kids who think they're all that, it's to simply tell them: "You never arrive." There's always new things to learn, and that's the coolest part of our sport--the creativeness. Life as a surfer always gets better because there's no end in sight. No matter what, you never arrive.