At age 16, Mike Becker started shaping boards in his parents' backyard on Long Island. In 1993 he started Nature Shapes. By 1996 he had a website and was distributing boards up and down the East Coast. Host Tyler Breuer has known Becker since the early 1990’s, when they used to compete together in the ESA competitions and surf the beaches of central Long Island together. Over the years, Becker has grown his surfboard business and has followed in the tradition of legendary New York shapers, John Hannon, Charlie Bunger, and Squeak Sanders. But Mike is more than a shaper. He’s a middle school technology-education teacher, surf shop owner, and inventor. Tyler had an opportunity to sit down with Mike while dropping off a surfboard blank to be glassed at the Nature Shapes factory. The two discussed local surf history, new ways to build boards and how he balances a career and family while running multiple businesses. What follows is pure gold with Mike Becker.

Swell Season is recorded by the NewsStand studio at Rockefeller Center in the heart of Manhattan and is distributed by WAX.Radio