Our Shapers

Bruce McKee

Hailing from the Northern Beaches of Sydney Australia, Bruce McKee an avid designer and waterman, grew up at Bungan Headland with a tubular reef break for his backyard. In his mid-teens Bruce began shaping all kinds of water craft from catamarans and sailboards to water-skis, wakeboards, Long-boards and guns to every type of short board.

Bruce is a world-renowned ‘all round’ shaper, with an eye for precision and many a moulded design credited to his name. Bruce was also a leading shaper in Europe where he spent a number of years making boards for some of the world’s best surfers.

Throughout his years in Europe, Bruce has shaped boards for a majority of the top pros of theWCT & WQS. He regularly shaped for Sunny Garcia and has had success with riders such as Kaipo Jaquias, John Shimooka, Ross Williams, Johnny Boy Gomes, Kobi & Sunny Aberton,Kurt Nyholm, Occy, Kate Skarret , Russell Winter, Tom Carroll, Tom Curren, Andy Irons,Neko Padaratz, Steve Clements, Dane Ward, Paul Parkes and a long list of past and present competitors.

In recent years Kelly Slater had legendary wins at Teahupoo, Pipeline and Cloudbreak riding a Quad. In Slaters’ own words "Thanks a lot.Your formulas have been instrumental in my setups and have really helped me enjoy surfing to a different level. Much appreciated. Kelly".

Ryan Briggs

From The Central Coast of NSW Australia, Ryan Briggs is the Co-Owner and Head Shaper for ECS, growing up playing rugby league and surfing like most coasties. Briggsy’s shaping story starts with a humble beginning where he was like most surfers, not being able to afford $900 surfboards and riding second hand or poorly shaped imported boards. He wanted to create a marketplace for good quality shapes and materials at a reasonable price that the average person can afford, leading to the ECS Brand’s inception.

Originally a carpenter by trade with an eye for detail as well as a surfer, he started shaping boards for his kids, friends and family. Briggsy has now shaped for a range of surfers including former WQS surfers, Junior champions and national champion Long boarders. He has also shaped for state title holders, national champions and world champion stand up paddle boarders. With his team of riders, Briggsy is continuously improving and creating board designs to suit all surfers and to ensure you have fun while surfing.

Rex Marechal

Rex started his career hand shaping in the late 70’s in Southern California. After a long internship with some of the most prestigious factories in San Diego as a shaper, glasser, and sander, his surfing was blossoming on his own crafts. He quickly became popular for his shaping skills and started his own label in 1982. Now well into his third decade, he has had the opportunity to shape for some of the world’s best labels and surfers with great success. With his ghost shaping labels such as Channel Islands, Chilli, Xanadu, Eric Arakawa, Pyzel and Webber (to name a few) his experience shows through on the end product.

Mixing the old-school with the new, Rex has a foundation of shaping skills that have earned the respect from his peers. From every single facet in the art of surfboard manufacturing, to an educated understanding in CAD shaping and designing technology, which he embraced very early in it’s introduction, he is a complete shaper in tune with all of the latest developments in the industry. And as an accredited AKUshaper owner and operator, you can trust Rex to design a craft suited to your needs and specifications. All the boards are finish-shaped off by Rex in his state-of-the-art factory on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia. And his staff of professionals in the glassing do the final glass work.

Passionate about surfing and surfboards, Rex strives for the best product possible and offers a complete range of surfboards developed for waves all over our globe.