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Recently, I had the true pleasure of visiting for the first time the Hawaiian island of Maui, beautiful would be an understatement to describe Maui. I was there for my wife's work related conference. It was the perfect timing for me to connect with Kely Rodrigues from Manuela Shapes.

I juggled my time between my lady and friends, surfing (scored good Honolua Bay), an interview with big wave hellman and longboard great Zack Howard and meeting up with Kely Boy. Unfortunately, time was limited so I was not able to visit his shaping room and record our interview on-site. I had a brief meeting with him at an undisclosed surf spot somewhere in the northern part of the island. Kely said I was so lucky that this particular spot was super fun with its offshore winds as its usually totally blown out. Kely came across as a strongly rooted Hawaiian. His heavy accent, the visuals of his Polynesian tattoos and a welcoming aloha attitude made me feel in good company. There wasn't time to talk to much as my host of the day, another longboard great, Johnny Pitzer and I wanted to hit the water.

Few weeks later on April 1st, 2020 we recorded this interview via the miracle of technology. It's my first "remote recording" interview. A pleasure for it being with Mr. Kely Rodrigues. Thank you for sharing your story and knowledge on the passion that tie so many of us together. 

TOPICS:
Who is Kely?
Shaping career
Shaping Influences (Ron Tzuhako & Wayne Rich)
Longboard Design
Maui's LB Community
Bob OLE Olson
Kimo LB Classic
Surf Etiquette 

Shoutout- To my lady and all the committed health care workers out there who are kicking ass during the Goddamn covid19 pandemic.

Sponsors: Leashless Brewing, Fin-Jak and Ventura Surf Shop

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* Technology is awesome, however I did have issues with the internet during recording. My apologies for the fixes and  special edit done so we could enjoy this interview.

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