In 1979, Kechele first began taking to the “air”. This was an exciting time in Surfing as strong skateboarding influences began trickling into surf Kechele explains, Sort of what urethane skate wheels did for Skateboarding. “ New Performance twin fins did for surf, we now had lots of extra speed.  With the mixed wedges of Sebastian Inlet Taking to the air and above the lip was a natural place he wanted to go..” The Surf and Skate crossover was way funner.  A few years later, Kechele continued aerial pioneering by taking first place in the coveted “1981 Stubbies Pro” at Sebastian Inlet.  Kechele had performed aerials throughout the entire event, (a first).  And Kech’s first big win as a Pro surfer.  Winning a ticket and invite to the international IPS Pro at Burleigh Heads to kick off the start of a long journey on the world tour. Photo: Rich McCarey

Shaping Grom boards for a young Kelly Slater allowed Kechele to fine tune his shaping skills on low volume ultra light weight performance grom boards. Kelly here with speed to burn, riding new parts of the wave is what Kelly alway wanted to do. (Refer Kelly Slater Pipe Dreams for some great stories)

Sebastian Inlet 2011

Kech Inlet 2011 photo Mez@esm

Kech South Florida photo Welsh SURFfNRG.com