Don’t let the braces, bleached blonde bowl cut, or pre-pubescent voice fool you. Kade Matson is a fully matured surfer with the well-honed style and bag of tricks to rival the rest of ’em. He’s 13 years old and hails from the wave heavy land of San Clemente. And like most groms his age, he surfs until the cows come home. It’s paying off, too – check out that boned out backside air reverse at the 1:11 mark.
If you notice, Kade’s constantly got a little hockey puck shaped device on the nose of his board. That’s a Trace action sports tracker. The tech mount tracks everything from waves caught to number of turns per session to degree of turns. And recently Kade has been competing in the Trace Up / Stack Up, the first-ever digital surf contest that aims to eliminate subjectivity in the surf judging arena. After a mid-contest update, Kade held the number one spot in the max turn degree category (302º at T-Street).
