Matt Keenan

NOTHING BEATS NEW GEAR!!

Matt Keenan — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 23:09:23 +0000

After all the years I’ve been a sponsored surfer, nothing beats that feeling you get when the UPS man pulls up at the front door and drops off some fresh gear. Weather it be a box of ERGO clothes, a grip of NPX wetties or the holy grail , a box of freshly shaped shortboards, you still just gotta smile. We’ve been in the worst pattern of waves and I’ve been starring at the new boards for weeks and wondering if these wetsuits are ever going to get a use in them before we need hoods again. So today I just smile as the forecast gets a bit brighter tomorrow and I can finally get back into it and give all this stuff a go. Hope you have a few spots pegged out to grab a surf and I’ll be right out front no matter how choppy! just wanna get into it and bang out a few turns!

Fall IS WHAT WE LIVE FOR!!!

Matt Keenan — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 15:33:03 +0000

Thanks god fall came in with a bang. This is the time of year we all just dream about all summer long as we ride grovelers and hop around in knee high mush. The hurricane swells pulsed and found a lot of long period walled out beaches, but last week our little wind swell just rocked our beaches here. At every nook and cranny in town there was wedges to be found, tubes to be stood up in , and lined up peeling walls to slice to pieces. I feel lucky to just be able to suit up at the house and ride up the street and surf with all of my friends. I hope everyone got their share and you’ll be standing up in the pit again soon…..

photo struck

God I love surfing!

Matt Keenan — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:54:48 +0000

It’s been sometime since I’ve had more then a few minutes alone with my own thoughts. During the summer months I work nonstop and barely have fifteen minutes to figure out what to do with myself let alone about surfing, get and ride new boards, chase a swell or travel. Now that summer is an image in the rearview mirror , I’ve gotten a lot of time to reflect on surfing and how much I really love our sport!!!

I have had to time you need to just wake up and check the surf and find the exact spot you want to surf. All summer I would just run up to the beach get a few waves, then run in head off to the next job. We’ve had these great swells line up and I’ve been able to just pick the right board and just go surf. I have a garage full of boards I just spent the last three days painting and drawing on. They are stickered up and ready to go for the Belmar Pro and for a trip to Hatteras and the ESA Champs and the Outer Banks Pro as well. Im so glad I get to reconnect with our sport that we love so much and I hope everyone has gotten their fair share of surf over the past few weeks and will get more this weekend.

The reason I surf is because there really is no better place to find yourself or lose yourself. It’s who I am and anyone who grabs a board and gives it a go.

Life Just got A lot more flexible in these…

Matt Keenan — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:48:15 +0000

I am really into doing a piece every few days about what I’m wearing, riding, into and things like that. I’ve been super blessed to work with Scott, at Hyperflex Wetsuits lately and I’ve been getting some super warm, comfy and flexible suits. I was always seeing them out in the water but never really knew where people were buying them as I’ve never seen them in any of the stores. People in the lineup seemed to always have them on and I figured I’d give them a try when I met up with him a few months back. I’ve been loving every piece that I received from the wetsuit top I wore in PR, to the hooded winter suit I wore that last few swells and more recently the newly redesigned 2010 AMP suit. Go check these suits out as soon as you can they are just that good. Insanely warm and stretchy and it’s like surfing in a second skin. Im gonna post all the info and pics of the new suit below. Enjoy guys and go get yourself some hyperflex already!!

New for 2010, the AMP “core” chest and back panels now feature limestone based Yamamoto Aerodome air insulated neoprene technology. The middle layer of the wetsuit incorporates small perforated chambers which trap air. These chambers work by insulating the body with air pockets, the same way double insulated windows trap a layer of air between the glass. To further insulate core temperature, we have combined Aerodome technology with our chillbreaker mesh skin on the external layer and our Zig-Zag Thermal fabric on the internal layer.

AMP Series STANDARD FEATURES:
With much research & development into the 2010 AMP Surf Series, it now features Yamamoto limestone based Aerodome technology. Other features include, 100% AMPstretch superstretch construction, Liquid Taped exterior seaming, a new re? ned anatomical pattern and the addition of our new back zip AMP suits with the W.E.B. Entry System.

Silver Glideskin Collar
Silver supersoft glideskin material prevents chaffing from the adjustable collar on all AMP back zip suits.
AeroDome® Panels
the AMP “core” chest and back panels now feature limestone based Yamamoto Aerodome® air insulated neoprene technology. Available on all AMP fullsuits.

Zig-Zag Thermal Lining
Zig-Zag thermal lining on the chest and back panels for crucial core warmth and moisture wicking in very cold
conditions.

W.E.B. Water Entry Barrier
flushes any water that may enter the suit out through 2 drain holes at the base of the zipper.
100% Liquid Taped Sealed Seams
All critical external seams are glued, blind-stitched and liquid taped for warmth, durability and flexibility. All interior stress points are then spot taped for added strength.

What am I surfing in this summer??

Matt Keenan — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:45:10 +0000

So I just got back from Puerto Rico and was able to try out the ERGO Glasser Boardshort, Its a new trunk that is available for summer. They are seriously the best boardshorts that I have ever surfed in. They are full 4-way stretch without the hefty price tag. I literally surfed in these for 8 hrs every day with no lube and I had no rashes or chafed areas at all. These come in a couple different color ways and are avaiable at ERGO retailers for $55… Thats right $55 for a full 4 way trunk! So find your way into a local ERGO dealer or any dealer and demand a great trunk that’s not going to break your wallet.

My Wedding Day take Duex..

Matt Keenan — Sun, 02 May 2010 01:24:32 +0000

I got married to my amazing wife, Lauren, on Oct 24th of this past year. It was the best day of my life and we had everyone with us there to share it with. We have waited for almost seven months to get our pictures back and last night was that day. Figured I would share a few of my favorites on here. ENJOY….

Loving My Life Part 2!

Matt Keenan — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:08:59 +0000

My earlier post from Puerto RIco was about our amazing day riding horses. I really didn’t think much more was going to happen on our trip in regards to cool activities besides the beach and such, but I was incredible wrong. I’ve always heard there were some beautiful waterfalls in the San Sebastian area and since I had my wife and sister with me on this trip , I figured we had to sample them first hand. I wasn’t sure how to get there but go figure KR, who’s got perfect gps built right in his head lead us to the step right to the place.

The hike down was sketchy to say the very least since it’s been raining a bit. When the trail is dry it’d be mellow with some steep steps but today, it was messy sloppy and just about as close to ice made out of mud as humanly possible. I went down twice trying to walk and take pictures and I even made my wife, Lauren, a homemade walking stick. When you truly see something in nature that’s so breathtaking , it really stops you in your tracks. I literally just stopped dead where I was and took it all in as everyone kept going.

I stood there and felt like god had just sent all of us here to get some enlightenment and a piece of mind. It was so gorgeous, so pristine, so alive. I’m so glad my sister, KR, Lauren, Emily and Colin were there with me to see it. It was one of those things that pictures don’t really capture and it would’ve been sadly understated with only words to describe.

Hope you enjoy the pics and can find some enlightenment in your day today and everyday!

Randomness from our Travels

Matt Keenan — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:17:02 +0000

I was in Florida a few weeks ago with Rob and we had a ton of random clips on his computer. I was teaching young Rob about the great rap songs of old and we came across Rump Shacker. He loved that the guys rapping were wearing Rip Curl spring suits and such so we threw it to some clips of me we had. Sorry for the quality of the footage as it’s all HD but he didn’t have a good conversion from my mac to his pc. Either way its a upload for whacky wednesday, enjoy.

Welcome Rob Kelly to the Filtrate Eyewear Family

Matt Keenan — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:58:13 +0000

Yesterday was a great day for both Filtrate Eyewear and our own , Rob Kelly. When we were out on California in March, and we met up with the boys from Filtrate at Lowers and had a great surf. The funny thing about it all was it was just such a relaxed group of cool guys all hanging out and surfing and when we came in we just talked sunglasses for a few minutes and tried a few pairs on. These shades instantly caught my attention with the unmatched clarity and comfort. The polarized lenses were making our crowded shredfest at lowers seemingly a little less crowded. That last part was a bit of an exaggeration in regards to these shades reducing the literal crowd factor, but it made the waves honestly look that much better glare free and crystal clear.

Now on to the business at hand. Rob was with me when I excepted the job to run the surf program and also help out with marketing. So naturally, Rob was just cruising along and soaking it all in. I gave him the bosses email and told him to pursue this one on his own as I was going to be going on vacation and out of touch for a bit. Braly Fox, who’s the brand marketing manager did some due diligence on, Rob, and then passed it on to me that we were going to be signing him up and that I should get in touch with him. That was an easy one as he’s one of my best friends and we just rapped out about what our plans were for both the brand, his future, and what types of things he wanted to do with the brand.

I’m really stoked to have one of surfing hardest working guys on the program and look for tons of media and viral splashes with both filtrate and Rob to follow. I always have to post it here first because this is where everyone turns for the newest info regarding all of our crew. Welcome Rob this is going to be sick!!

Loving Life in Real’s Beach House!!

Matt Keenan — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:53:08 +0000

I am literally loving life right about now. I’m down in Puerto Rico at Shacks beach and I’m staying at my sponsor’s house. Real Watersports has the sickest house a few lots back from the beach. I got married exactly six months ago, and for our wedding the boys gave us a free weeks stay in their rental. So since this is the first time my wife could take a vacation since our honeymoon we decided to shoot on down for a week and just live it up.

My sister, Jaime, came along as well as my boy Colin and then our boy, KR, was already down here for the past few months so he has just been hanging out with us living it up in a rental car, an air conditioned house, surfing middles and eating all our cereal. We’ve had some really super rippable surf, sun, warmest water ever and even a sick two hour guided horse tour yesterday . If anyone ever comes down here to the Isabella area you have to take this horse tour by Villa Montana. You get the best view of some amazing parts of PR you would normally never even see. At the end of the ride before you turn around to get back on the trail to head home, you get to take this sick hike up the mountain and after climbing straight up for what seems forever, you pop out right above Survivals and can see all the way down to Tabletops.

My sister, Colin, my wife Lauren and I just laughed and laughed the whole entire ride. We were just about bucked off a million times, and my sister’s horse was just obsessed with smelling Lauren’s horses ass. They were so close together the entire ride they were just about connected. It was the first time we’ve ever ridden a horse and it was such an awesome experience to share with all of them. Swear it was like our organs were rattling against rib cages and we are definitely feeling it today. We are super sore and i think both Lauren and I have broken knees.

All in all this has been one of the most relaxing, incredibly funny, most entertaining trip I’ve had in a long time. We get to surf our brains out, kite, ride horses, make huge dinners, and just log some insane memories. I’m attaching a ton of shots from our trip.