We're pleased to introduce you to another of our Macho Fins Family members, surfer & shaper Sean Cusick of Sean Cusick Surfboards from Florida, USA. Sean's been riding with our fins for a few years now, and has taken them with him into the shaping world too. He's regularly on the road, and as such you can find him and his boards in various top locations all over the world.
We sent Sean our Shaper Stories questions to find out a bit more about him and his boards...
Tell us where you’re from and where you’re based.
My name is Sean-Michael Cusick. I'm originally from Florida in the US, but for now I'm on the east coast of Australia.
What inspired your logo/brand name?
My brand is my name!
Tell us a bit about how, when and why you got into shaping.
I got into making boards the same year I started surfing. I think it was after watching some surf movie with a shaper in it and I thought it looked pretty cool to make your own stuff so I bought my first blank. After that I wanted to try as many boards as I could and making them myself seemed like the best and cheapest way to do that.
What kind of boards do you mostly shape?
These days I've been making a lot of longboards and fishes. I really enjoy figuring out new combinations of design elements, especially in longboards, to put the boards in different parts of the wave.
What’s your preferred fin set up to a) shape and b) surf?
Single fins are probably my favorite to surf. They might be a little slower out of the gate but they keep up momentum a lot better than some other fin setups. I really like shaping twinnies though.
Best tip for the budding shaper?
Best tip for a budding shaper would be to go easy on yourself for the first few and allow yourself to make mistakes, it's just foam.
What’s been the most memorable board you’ve ever shaped & why?
The most memorable board I've made was probably this single fin I made when I first came to Australia. It was the only board I had for about 6 months and I rode it in anything and everything. I later used that outline to create the Dion model.
What's the bonus of using Macho Fins in your boards?
Aside from the superb construction and beautiful colour choices, I really like being able to talk with the folks at Macho Fins. They really care about their products and their customers. It's great to chat about design and flex and end up with a fin that makes my boards work the way they should.
Thanks Sean! And you can check out Sean Cusick Surfboards on their website and Instagram.
Photo Credits: Xué Gil & Yanik Tissera