Rocky McKinnon started McKinnon Shapes & Designs in the spring of 1997 with a simple mission to create unique, versatile, and high performance surfboards for himself and friends. His shaping skills and unique design style are a testament to those shapers that lent their expertise, time, and patience (Mike Minchinton, Mark Martinson, Robert August, Matt Bettis, Poi Dog, Mark Pesce, Jack Sykes, Bart
Demarr, Keola Repoza, Chas Wickwire, and Roger Hinds). Only after a couple years of surfing and shaping Rocky began to compete. “I knew that if people saw me surfing good on my boards that they would want to buy my boards.” Success came early on. In 1999 he won his first amateur title on the talent filled Huntington Beach Surf Series in only his second season. These wins proved to Rocky that he was capable of taking his surfing to the next level. He became a professional surfer in 2002 and by 2003 Rocky was rated in the top ten in the country. These surfing accomplishments opened other doors for him to gain more notoriety for McKinnon Shapes & Designs. Soon to follow were photos and articles in magazines and websites, surf videos, to being featured on Channel 5 Morning News and taking Joe Piscopo surfing for the “The Best Damn Sports Show” on Fox Sports Net. You might have also seen him in a few local car dealership commercials. McKinnon believes that, “Through competition I’ve felt that I have come up with designs that provide the surfer with the highest performance equipment available.” Not to mention having a growing young and talented team constantly R&D-ing and pushing the performance envelope also helps Rocky be versatile with different shapes and sizes of boards. Over time, word has spread and his reputation as an established shaper has grown throughout Huntington Beach and Southern California to Hawaii and Costa Rica. Rocky McKinnon has also procured the license to manufacture Hello Kitty Surfboards. So at this point and time Rocky is looking to boost McKinnon Shapes & Designs to the forefront of the surfboard industry. If you want to take your surfing to the next level, experience the difference a Custom McKinnon Shapes & Designs surfboard can do for your surfing.
