Skip Frye (born Harry Richard Frye; September 7, 1941 in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

) is an American surfer, surfboard designer and shaper, and environmental activist. Skip Frye 2007

Background

Frye attended

Mission Bay High School Mission Bay High School (MBHS), is a public high school located in the San Diego, California community of Pacific Beach. It is a magnet school with emphasis on Academic Studies. In Fall 2006, Mission Bay introduced International Baccalaureate c ...

and began his professional

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...

career in 1958. His first board was a balsa board shaped by legend Mike Diffenderfer. He rode professionally for G&S surfboards and eventually created his own model for them in 1967. He captured national titles and represented the United States team internationally in 1966. Frye has appeared on many magazine covers including

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue The ''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue is published annually by American magazine ''Sports Illustrated'' and features female fashion models, celebrities and athletes wearing swimwear in various locales around the world. The highly coveted cov ...

(1969, with model

Jamee Becker This is the chronological history of cover models for the ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue''. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue has grown from being an issue of ''Sports Illustrated'' magazine created to fill space at a time of year w ...

), The Surfer's Journal, Surfing, and Surfer Magazine. Frye is known for his gliding, fluid style as well as creating 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." After hitting a rough financial patch in the 70s, he started signing his wings in pencil because he could't afford laminates. 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. Frye 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, the Fish, and specialized longboard shapes. He has developed a moderate temperature surf wax ("Man Wax"), ideal for his native San Diego waters. Frye is a 2011 inductee into the Surfing Walk of Fame in

Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 duri ...

in the surf pioneer category. In May, 2017 Frye was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the San Diego Surf Film Festival.

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. In 1990, Frye married his long-time girlfriend

Donna Frye Donna Frye (born January 20, 1952) is an American politician from San Diego. She was born in Pennsylvania and is one of three children. Frye was a member of the San Diego City Council, representing District 6 and a two-time candidate for mayor of ...

(née Sarvis), and they started Harry's 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.

References

External links

Skip Frye Surfboards - official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frye, Skip 1941 births Living people American surfers Surfboard shapers People from San Diego