Kekoa "Bam" Bacalso has been with T&C Surf Designs for over 8 years now. He was born in 1985 and raised in Hawaii growing up surfing a lesser known wave called Barbers Point. His favorite wave is Haleiwa and Off The Wall on the North Shore. This isn't a surprise since Kekoa is a high performance surfer with above average power compared to your everyday pro. Both waves are known for power, high performance and perfect tubes on the right days. This matches Kekoa's style perfectly. Although he says tube riding is his favorite things to do (most surfers would agree) he's got a signature frontside hack that throws an extreme amount of water into the sky. Don't let his size fool you, 5'6" and 200 lbs. He's as agile as they come and tears apart waves with speed and precision.

Kekoa's competitive resume has him holding an NSSA National Title, 2006 World Junior Champ and the 2009 Rookie of the Year on the World Championship Tour. He's traveled the world over and surfed all the best waves but if you ask him Hawaii is where he wants to be and would prefer surfing his local breaks rather than traveling around the world. Who can blame him. He lives in paradise.

Kekoa lists his heroes as Mick, Eli Manning and Bobby Flay. An interesting list but I'm sure these legends all have made a lot of other peoples lists for heroes. I'm sure he'd love to eat a meal made by Bobby Flay as long as it doesn't have pickles. Kekoa no like pickles.

Keko loves working with Glenn Pang and continues to develop boards with him. His favorite thing about working with Glenn is that he's open to anything Kekoa will throw at him. He'll take in what Kekoa is saying and run it through his head before coming back with some recommendations based off over 50 years of experience. Kekoa said it usually doesn't take long for them to get a design nailed down and working. His favorite boards are the Sidewinder, HRT and SINR which he designed with Glenn.

Kekoa rides for RipCurl and is heavily involved in managing the up and coming competitors on their team. He also helps all the surfers when they come to Hawaii, passing on his knowledge of each surf break and competitive strategies. He is sponsored by Vertra, Ronin, Famous and FCS Fins. We enjoy and appreciate his talents and intellectual input to our surfboard program. We look forward to working with Kekoa for many more years.

IG: @kekoabacalso