Name: Sean Starky, but everyone calls me Starky.

 Age: 33

Vehicle: Sprinter 4x4

Occupation: Yucca Fins and Jack of all on boats.

Residence/Local Watering Hole/High Tide spot? Wedge and Newland Street aka Newuluwatu

What’s in your quiver? Romanosky Knee Boards, G Mat, 4th Gear Flyers, Yucca Fins Ultra Soft model and a couple random vintage logs I'll bust out in summer with the lady.

What’s in your van? Not much, people get kind of bummed when they look inside, I think
they are expecting to see a 60 inch flat screen or something. When I sleep in the van I just blow up my sleeping pad and pass out. The thing is for my winter ski missions so I am usually so tired after skiing I just jump in my 0 degree sleeping bag and pass out. I also use the van for my blue collar boat gig so I like to have it open so I
can carry all my work gear during the week. And honestly after working on boats all week along with running yucca fins I don't really feel like building out a van.

What was your first exposure to / experience with matsurfing? Kind of random, but at Wedge we have this amazing side wave. We can only bodysurf from 10 am to 5 am otherwise it's too tough to get a wave with all the boards in the water bodysurfing. When I was young I would knee ride Wedge, but as I got older it just got too crowded and I didnt like being attached to a heavy glassed kneeboard at wedge with the crowds. That kind of led me to my journey into mats. Bodysurfing and Kneeboarding in the early 2000’s I was always aware of surf mats
being into alternative forms of surf riding. So a bunch of us Wedge guys started talking about picking up mats to ride the fun small side wave days at Wedge when we could not bodysurf. Myself and John Karam
decided to pull the trigger and pick up some 4th Gear Flyers and the rest is history. Now we are riding the things on Wedge peaks. One big late fall swell a pretty well known bodyboarder, Chad Barba, a little bit of a Wedge Legend was picking off peaks on his surf mat and we all were like thats a fucking thing! Gotta give credit where credit is due.

Did you get the magic right out of the gate or was there a steep learning curve? Steep learning curve for me, real steep. I remember getting my first mat in the mail and running down to Newland, a pretty shitty beach
break in Huntington that only gets good once a year maybe. Of course it was terrible out, maybe four feet and onshore winds. After my first “wave” I thought to myself this is the hardest shit I have ever tried haha. Here we go.

How often do you ride pool toys v bodysurf v boards (boog, stand up, knee or otherwise)? Wedge only breaks in the summer so I mostly bodysurf Wedge in the summer, that's my main focus. I call Wedge my ball and chain. Right when you are ready to quit her and move on she gives just a little taste and you're right back to checking her everyday and just getting frustrated how fickle she can be. That's half the fun too, sitting on the Jetty with all the boys chewing the fat complaining about Wedge and talking about the old days. Come winter I'm mostly on the mat. I like bodysurfing big hollow surf and in the winter in Orange County we don't have much of that going on so I mostly ride the mat.

How did Seacraft Supply come about? Man that's a tough one. So many reasons. I had some major health
issues in my early twenties that woke my ass up to how short life can be. A funny thing happened after the movie Come Hell or High Water came out, bodysurfing was cool all of a sudden. I love Keith Malloy, but I always joke it took a pro surfer to make people realize how cool bodysurfing is. I noticed some random companies popping up trying to make a quick buck off bodysurfing and I really didn't think they were representing bodysurfing how I thought it should be represented. So instead of complaining about it I did something about it and started Sea Craft Supply Co.

At what point did you decide to go all in on Yucca and start manufacturing fins? The best part of Sea Craft Supply Co is it helped me understand the fin industry. I started getting pretty frustrated with a couple of the
brands and how they were trying to keep costs low and the price low so they were using low quality rubber and had non existent quality control. I also found out some of the companies weren't even owned by people that surfed and that shit pissed me off, I am not about that. At one point I had to send back half the UDTs and Ducks that I ordered. It's really sad a brand like that is owned by a company that has zero employees that surf and are all about selling low quality gear. Again instead of complaining about it I decided I was going to design a fin and use the best rubber I could find and it wasn't going to be a cheap fin. But I knew over time people would appreciate the product and understand why our fins are a little more money.

Recent travels w mat and fins stashed in carry on? I mostly stay local, due to the health issues flying is a real
challenge for me. And honestly people need to fly less, lower that carbon footprint.

On memorable sessions or sudden leaps in progress on a mat… Yes I scored Newland last fall when it was actually working and scored perfect head high A frames for a couple hours with just me and my buddy John Karam. Just taking turns and laughing at each other as we paddled past each other. One of those sessions that the waves were so good you could just turn your brain off.

What do you run for inflation? I go off the fold method. At Wedge I usually run a little past 90 degrees when you fold the mat. When I'm surfing other spots I like to try and run low pressure.

On your dream setup for pool toy riding… Whatever mat is in the van. Wedge side wave to an endless ten foot corner bowl.

Does size matter? I’m one of those guys that's about running what you got, so no.

What’s next for Yucca? What’s cooking for colorways in the new long blades? We actually have a pretty cool new short blade coming out, same design, but different build process. Keeping my lips sealed, being the small guy we have already been ripped off to many times. The Yucca long blade came out unreal. Super excited to get it out to our customers. We will just have size large available this summer. People need to remember I still work full time on boats and fin molds cost a fortune. Se we have to slow roll it, but we are making it happen. Fingers crossed by mid to late summer the XXL short yucca and medium and xl long blades will be available.

How’s your health and how’s it affect your water time? (Feel free to skip if you want, up to you) Health is an ongoing battle for me. I've had my colon removed and have a j pouch. Look it up, it's wild. I also have some other autoimmune issues so it does make it tough. But I’ll tell you one thing when I am healthy and I do get a good session, I'm sure I appreciate it and enjoy it more than most.

How are you passing quarantine time? Been lighting up instagram haha. I am an encyclopedia of worthless fin
and bodysurf knowledge so I thought i'd start sharing it with people via instagram. I’ve been blown away how stoked people have been and thankful. Been pretty awesome.

On goals, plans, future endeavors…. Stay healthy. At the end of the day that's all that matters. The rest
is bullshit chatter in your head.

Check Starky on Instagram @yuccafins and @yucca_designs

For fins and other paraphernalia clicky clicky YUCCAFINS.COM