skip frye speaks

SF: People have always underestimated her abilities at every turn. And she makes believers out of everybody, man. Like the press. There's a few people in the media who were like, oh yeah, Donna Frye, but before you know it, they're just going 'whoa', 'wow'. People have just got to give her a chance. And I really believe that no matter how bad things are, if she gets in there, she will amaze people with her ability -- to develop consensus for one thing. Builders are just going, 'oh, we're ruined', but she's not against building. She's against building that isn't done in the right way, where the infrastructure isn't set up to start with. And that includes police and fire. How long does it take, for example, for a firetruck to get to your area? A lot of places in San Diego have been overdeveloped to the point where you've got a half-hour response time.

CD: Then you've got water delivery issues in a big city that's essentially a desert, and runoff from all that development too.

SF: All those issues. The quality of life -- I don't see why some people can't see it. We're all suffering, but they can't see through the bucks. It's all about the buck.

CD: Has her time come in a way? Is San Diego ready for...

SF: Something. Some change. Some common sense.

CD: Then she's got the upcoming strong mayor initiative in a year or two, where the mayor has a much greater power over city finances.

SF: Which is funny. She didn't want that strong mayor initiative in the first place. She wanted something more democratic. And I kind of agree. You look top to bottom in most situations, you give a person too much money or power and they can't deal with it. Rare people can handle that type of power and money and not be corrupted.

CD: Is Donna one of those people?

SF: I really think she won't be corrupted. I've known her for 24 years now and she's never been. The first time she was elected, people were trying to look at the money angle, and saying, 'oh, it's the unions giving her money'. We're just not about money. I mean look around at my shop. I've got a lot of surfboards, but money's just never been the driving factor in our existence.

CD: What is the driving factor from your perpspective for Donna?

SF: I think she wants to serve the public and just make a better life for San Diego and the people in San Diego. It started off just like that in Pacific Beach, and now it's the whole city.

CD: It's amazing.

Frye in the Hebrides. Photo: Trefz

SF: It's amazing to me. It really is. I mean, I look back on when we first met. I was in pretty bad shape. She actually helped me become who I am. I don't think my life would be where it is at this point had it not been for her. There was a period where my first wife left, and I was raising kids and they were bouncing around. I wound up in a room as big as that. (he points to his shaping bay), and that was my existence. I had a cot in one end, and a shaping room in one end and three dogs. I'd make the shaping room a puppy pen at night and put the paper down for them to poop. I pooped in a foam bucket. I didn't have showers, I had low self-esteem, I didn't have nothing. That's when I met her. I did still have surfing and I had a certain amount of reputation there, and still was able to make enough for beer and beans. A lot of beer. I was a mess. Drugs, alcohol the whole thing. She gave me some self-confidence, you know? She took interest in me and we just grew together. We had both come out of bad marriages and just grew together. And look at us now.

CD: Well, if Donna becomes mayor is it going to make you more busy in terms of your surfboards?

SF: In terms of my business, I'm just way beyond. Our phone messages -- I'm just not even taking orders anymore. I'm just so booked. It was actually a lot smoother when Donna ran the business. When she left to do City Council, I had to learn how to count. It's a much smaller, more condensed thing. I mean we don't have a big shop anymore -- just boards and occasionally t-shirts. I could probably do t-shirts and hats and just forget shaping and just make a lot more money.

CD: But that's not where it is for you.

SF: No, I'm into shaping. Since we've not got two incomes, and I don't have to be constantly shaping, I've learned so much about design. More in the last three years than in the last 20. And I like doing what I'm doing. I love shaping, I do one board a day when I do 'em. Maybe three or four a week on a good week. Bad week, maybe a quarter to half.

CD: So you two are both now in a whole other life than when you met.

SF: It's kind of a rags to riches story. And a lot of it for me personally has to do with my faith. I was pretty strong into the Jesus movement in the 1970's, and I shoulda held on, but my wife left and I was just so broken-hearted and down, that I just went to the gutter.

CD: Is Donna as devout a Christian as you?

Photo Courtesy: Surfline/tomkeckphoto.com

SF: She has her own thing and she's more personal about it. She enlists my prayers quite a bit when things get heavy and she'll read the good word once in awhile. And she'll ask me, what was the proverb for the day? Because I read everyday. It's kind of amazing how the proverb goes with what's going on.

CD: Give an example.

SF: One had to do with the negativity that was coming from the other side. I don't know if you're familiar with the Pharisees, they were kind of the hierarchy during Jesus' time. And they tried to look like they obeyed the law, but in their hearts, they were just bad guys. And they were always hassling Jesus. I kind of look at alot of these guys who are against her as being like the Pharisees.

(He pulls out a beautiful, ancient leather bound Bible and begins thumbing through it to find the proverb.)

CD: How did things go when Donna decided to actually run. Where were you?

SF: It was a Friday when she first kind of mentioned it and then we had a wedding on Saturday -- Marco Gonzalez with Surfrider. He got married that Saturday. So there were a lot of higher-ups in the environmental movement at this wedding. And I kind of mentioned it to a few people, and they would just go 'ohh! ohhh!' Just to see them going off on the idea, I was kind of getting a buzz.

Then it just went electric. Kirk Letterman, who used to be an editor at Surfer, I talk to him all the time -- he rang me up and goes, 'hey, Hal Jepson just called me and said Donna's running for mayor!'. Fifteen minutes later, it was the news calling, "Where's Donna? Where's she at? What's her chief of staff's cellphone number?"

CD: It'll be interesting. Because it's one thing for you to stay below the radar with her as a councilperson vs a mayor. It'll be interesting to see how things change, or don't change for you and for her.

Photo Courtesy: Surfline/tomkeckphoto.com

SF: Well it's been a gradual process. It's not like going from nothing. Plus in the surfing world, I've had a certain amount of exposure. Right now, it's funny because I don't wanna pull back and say something that will be misconstrued. Over the weekend, I got angry with some of the comments that were being made. A lot of hateful things. I got one call from a lady who said, 'well you'd better tell the media that Donna doesn't surf, so that lie doesn't get out.' It's that kind of stuff and attitude. It's just labeling people.

(he finds the proverb)

Here it is -- it kind of relates to some of this negativity: "A stone is heavy and the sand weighty. But a fool's wrath is heavier than both."

We're already hearing from some heavy hitters in La Jolla that they may sue to have the election declared invalid. Based on some old statute.

CD: You've touched on it here, but what has knowing Donna meant for your life?

SF: Well, like I said, she gave me confidence and helped me in a business sense. We worked up and had our own shop at one point. When we got married, I saw God's blessings really happen. That's when we got the shop and that's really when we came back after that. I was over 50 and wasn't who I was before. You know, when you turn 50, you start to realize, maybe my time is up. I was on a surf trip to France. And I don't know, my kids were all messed up. I just walked down on the beach and just cried out to God man, I said, I just want to make the rest of my life count. I wanted to set a good image to young guys coming up, I wanted to help my kids and just be a positive role model. God honored that big time.

CD: How so?

SF: Two of my kids -- at the time, they didn't even know I was in France. They were on their own more or less. One lived in Hawaii, and the afternoon I got back I heard from all three kids. And what God's done with all the kids since that time... The youngest one was even worse than me. Drugs, alcohol, she lived with a skinhead. I had tried talking to her, but she was so messed up it was like talking to the devil. Finally I just pulled back and said to God, all I can do is put her in your hands. Sure enough a couple of months later, I was driving with Donna and my mother-in-law, and we were coming back through this part of town that was Navy housing, and I knew it was close to where my daughter lived. In the last house, there were like 20 cop cars and I said, uh oh, they're going in on somebody. Little did I know it was my daughter. It was funny. Donna was going to church with me about two weeks after this and I felt a tug at my elbow. I looked over and it was my daughter.

CD: Whoa.

SF: She had to go through a lot with Alanon and treatment and all that. But last year, she went back, got her GED and three scholarships.

CD: How old is she?

SF: 38. Then my oldest daughter, she's just got a touch with horses better than I do with surfboards. She just moved back from Hawaii with her husband and just came through last week. We had the best time. And my son was the last one. He just came out of jail like within the last year for three 502's -- drunk related stuff. I went to see him every Saturday. Now he's coming out of that and really looking good. God just showed me right there how much he's blessed my diligence to him. All my kids are completely straight now.

And I just see this whole thing with Donna. I'm behind her praying for her all the time. And however it goes, you know? I'll just fall back on the lord and the goodness of God. That's one thing this election has done for me, it's made me focus more on my faith. Made me tighter with The Man because there's so much coming at you. It can mess you up. He helped me in that respect quite a bit. The main point in us being here is to love God and serve people.

CD: It's interesting you brought up a point about serving people.

SF: That's where Donna is. She's more there than I am in a lot of respects. Here I am reading it every day and going to church, but she's out there living it.