Skip Frye
Encyclopedia
Skip Frye is a surfer, surfboard designer and shaper, and environmental activist.
career in 1958. His first board was a balsa board shaped by legend Mike Diffenderfer. Skip rode professionally for G&S surfboards and eventually created his own model for them in 1967. Skip captured national titles and represented the United States team internationally in 1966. Frye has appeared on many magazine covers including Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
(1969, with model Jamee Becker), The Surfer's Journal, Surfing, and Surfer Magazine.
Skip is known for his gliding, fluid style as well as some of the most in-demand surfboards in the world. He is perhaps, best recognized by his iconic logo, a set of wings commonly referred to as "Frye Wings." Though once he was in a rough patch in the 70s and couldn't even afford to buy laminates so he started signing his wings in pencil. This is referred to as his "ghetto days", when he shaped surfboards behind Select Surf Shop in Pacific Beach. Iconic images of him surfing with his dog, silhouetted against a setting sun, and paddling alone into "The Ranch" have appeared in books and magazines and have been printed on clothing and surfboards. Skip is also known for his innovation with foiled surfboard fins. After a surfing trip to Australia in 1969, he developed his trademark board shapes: the Egg, Fish, and specialized longboard shapes. He has developed a moderate temperature surf wax ("Man Wax"), ideal for his native San Diego waters.
Skip still surfs daily and shapes in the San Diego area. His attention to detail and careful hand-shaping practices have created high demand and long wait-lists. His boards have slowly become collector's pieces often passed down through generations.
Frye is a 2011 inductee into the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach, California
in the surf pioneer category.
In 1990, Frye married his long-time girlfriend, Donna Frye
(née Sarvis) and they started Harrys' Surf Shop with Harry "Hank" Warner. His wife was elected as a San Diego City Councilmember in 2001 and narrowly lost the San Diego mayoral election in 2005. Her term ended on December 6, 2010. They founded Surfers Tired of Pollution in the mid 1990s and are both public supporters of clean water and the environment.
Background
Skip attended Mission Bay High School and began his professional surfingSurfing
Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...
career in 1958. His first board was a balsa board shaped by legend Mike Diffenderfer. Skip rode professionally for G&S surfboards and eventually created his own model for them in 1967. Skip captured national titles and represented the United States team internationally in 1966. Frye has appeared on many magazine covers including Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published annually by Sports Illustrated. It features fashion models wearing swimwear in exotic locales. According to some, the magazine is the arbiter of supermodel succession. In addition, the issue is a media nexus that in 2005 carried in advertising....
(1969, with model Jamee Becker), The Surfer's Journal, Surfing, and Surfer Magazine.
Skip is known for his gliding, fluid style as well as some of the most in-demand surfboards in the world. He is perhaps, best recognized by his iconic logo, a set of wings commonly referred to as "Frye Wings." Though once he was in a rough patch in the 70s and couldn't even afford to buy laminates so he started signing his wings in pencil. This is referred to as his "ghetto days", when he shaped surfboards behind Select Surf Shop in Pacific Beach. Iconic images of him surfing with his dog, silhouetted against a setting sun, and paddling alone into "The Ranch" have appeared in books and magazines and have been printed on clothing and surfboards. Skip is also known for his innovation with foiled surfboard fins. After a surfing trip to Australia in 1969, he developed his trademark board shapes: the Egg, Fish, and specialized longboard shapes. He has developed a moderate temperature surf wax ("Man Wax"), ideal for his native San Diego waters.
Skip still surfs daily and shapes in the San Diego area. His attention to detail and careful hand-shaping practices have created high demand and long wait-lists. His boards have slowly become collector's pieces often passed down through generations.
Frye is a 2011 inductee into the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach, California
Huntington Beach, California
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 189,992; making it the largest beach city in Orange County in terms of population...
in the surf pioneer category.
Personal
Frye married his first wife, Marcia Metcalf in 1963. Together they raised their three children (Lauren - from a previous marriage, Donald - from a previous marriage, and Braden), before divorcing. Following his divorce, Frye experienced a period of personal struggle but submerged himself in his sport and his faith.In 1990, Frye married his long-time girlfriend, Donna Frye
Donna Frye
Donna Frye was a member of the San Diego City Council, representing District 6. Her term ended December 6 2010.Frye was born in 1952 in Pennsylvania, the second of three children...
(née Sarvis) and they started Harrys' Surf Shop with Harry "Hank" Warner. His wife was elected as a San Diego City Councilmember in 2001 and narrowly lost the San Diego mayoral election in 2005. Her term ended on December 6, 2010. They founded Surfers Tired of Pollution in the mid 1990s and are both public supporters of clean water and the environment.