8’8″ Skip Frye Gypsy Model

Greetings, Shredderz! Before we get into the proceedings this evening, a quick disclaimer: in this post about a beautiful Skip Frye surfboard, I will not be discussing the board’s price. You can view the Craigslist listing here, and feel free to discuss the fiscal aspects amongst yourselves, but I’m steering clear. Instead, I’ll be focusing on the design aspects of this killer Skip Frye Gypsy model. The Gypsy is descended from the Gordon & Smith model of the same name. According to the Surfer’s Journal feature “The Caretaker of Intangible Ingredients”, Skip revived the Gypsy in 2013 when a customer asked for a mid-length with a wider tail.

Skip Frye Gypsy
Skip Frye Gypsy

Ken Lewis, who by some miracle has yet to grow sick of my non-stop questions about Skip models, also provided some helpful color. The Skip Frye Gypsy model features the same bottom contours in the tail as the Fish Simmons model. The main difference is that the Fish Simmons has a swallowtail, and the Gypsy features a diamond tail.

According to the posting, the Skip Frye Gypsy measures in at 8’8″ x 22 1/2″ x 3″. I can’t say when it was shaped, exactly. It looks like there’s a tiny bit of fading going on, especially towards the nose on the deck. You can clearly see the FCS fin boxes, so it’s not vintage, but I don’t know enough to come up with a reliable date range just based on that. I’d guess it’s a minimum of 10-15 years old, but I could be totally wrong.

I love the classic Coke bottle blue resin tint, and the tiny Skip Frye wings logo towards the tail is a great touch. Shout out to the seller for taking some great pics that really show the details of the board. The Craigslist listing for the Skip Frye Gypsy model featured in this post can be found here.

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