Skip Frye On The Longfish

"Long fish was just kind of a need that I had, if I was going to do the fish. It started really going off after Derek did his thing, and I started getting orders for the Derek Hynd template. So I took the fish blank and I maxed one out for me that was 6'2", but I never rode it. I was afraid I'd look like a fool, riding it, because I didn't know if I could stand up on that short of a board anymore. People were, like "When are you gonna ride it?" I was, like "When it's perfect waves, warm water and no people." Being stuck here in San Diego it doesn't happen. I finally gave it away.

I'd see Rawson, now and then. He whistles through everywhere- he's like a world shaper, he just goes everywhere and shapes, and he's a blank designer too. So he was talking to me about a bigger fish blank, and I didn't think about it again and then, all of a sudden, he designed one and left me one up a Diamond Glassing. So I went up to get it, but it was gone- Steve Lis and Razz the glasser had confiscated it and made something out of it. But I did see the blank, and I went "Wow! Maybe I could make something big enough where I'd be comfortable on it."

So I went right out to Mitch, and I ordered one and shaped one up. It's funny, because the first place I rode it was high tide Old MAn's at San Onofre and, to me, San Onofre was always a longboard spot. I never thought about shortboarding. I remember I'd just gotten off an 11 foot board and I was having trouble finning it, and I put this 7 3/4" fin into this 11 foot board, and that was just it, man, it was like, the best research and development day I've probably had in a couple of years. I had the fish stuck in the car and it was high tide, and PT came along and said 'I'm going shortboarding out here." And I thought about it: "I wonder if I should break this thing out and try it?" I was kind off apprehensive about it. There were a lot of people about. But I took it out and, oh man, it was so good. I was like a little kid, man- the thing was just: rebound, floater. It was the shortboard thing all over again. I hadn't ridden a board under 8 foot in about five or six years. It was like, a 6'9" and it was really neat, and ever since then I started making them and I've had really good feedback.

A couple of my friends, who I've been building boards for for thirty years- in fact, the second one I made, for a real close friend of mine, Sean Beal- he's kind of a shortboard guy and he's kind of finicky too, he's always a hard guy to please and he called me back and said "This is the best board you've ever made me." I started getting that kind of feedback, for the longer fish. So, for the most part, it's been a real positive addition to the whole fish realm."

Skip Frye talking to Andrew Kidman. Full interview is in the 'Ether' book, available by emailing info @ foamandfunction.com. Board is also by Andrew Kidman, with a shot of his Frye shaped Bombers fish for comparison. The green Bowie series  fish has sold, but there's another in the works....