Hermosa Surfers Walk of Fame to induct Pipeline finalist Chris Frohoff
Chris Frohoff tuning up at Pipeline in 1986, two weeks prior to his third place finish at the Pipeline Masters. Photo by Thomas Servais (tomservais.photoshelter.com)
Chris Frohoff credits his volleyball playing older brother Brent for starting him surfing, in a sibling rivalry sort of way. Brent competed on the AVP tour during the beach volleyball’s golden era of Karch Kiraly, Sinjin Smith and Randy Stoklos.
One day, Brent was surfing between games and lost his board. Chris grabbed it and never gave it back. “It was a big Jacobs single fin. I caught my first wave on it. Before that I was body surfing and Boogie boarding. It opened up a whole new world to me. I pretty much taught myself to surf on a 5-foot-4 single fin Jacobs that could have been a kneeboard. It was the smallest board in the Jacobs shop.”
At 14, Frohoff started competing in Western Surfing Association contest up and down the coast then went onto the National Scholastic Surfing Association circuit. Bronzed Aussies Peter Townend and Ian Cairns ran the NSSA contests. Townend was the first International Professional Surfing Champion. He and Cairns were grooming the hottest kids for the pro circuit
At 16, Frohoff won the junior’s and the men’s divisions at the nationals. It had only been done once before. That earned Frohoff a place on the NSSA Surf Team, which won the National NSSA Championships in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in 1982 and again in 1983.
After graduating from Mira Costa High School, he turned pro with sponsorships from Gotcha and O’Neil.
“It was twice as hard then to get in main events as it is now,” Frohoff said “You had to surf in all these smaller qualifying contests all over the world just to get into the trials for the main events.They only took the top two out of these contests. Now they take the top 10. I had some good results, placing third in the 1986 Pipeline Masters and third in South Africa and England.
I finished fifth at Sunset and Haleiwa. When I got home, that year I won the Body Glove Pismo and San Clemente contests and The Hussong’s San Miguel, Mexico Contest.”
Chris Frohoff at work at the Redondo Breakwall, 1990. Photo by Mike Balzer
Frohoff also made multiple appearances on the cover of Surfer Magazine, the first at age16. But after 10 years on the pro tour he tired of the traveling.
He became a Los Angeles County Lifeguard and started shaping boards for friends and hot, up-coming surfers. He had a shop for three years in downtown Manhattan Beach but now is back to working in his shaping room. He plans to shape forever, like his mentor and Walk of Fame charter member Hap Jacobs .
Frohoff remains a recurrent Los Angeles County Lifeguard and is also a Los Angeles County Paramedic Firefighter. He and his wife Ann, of 20 years, are preparing to send their 17 year old daughter Rio off to Tulane University in New Orleans on a volleyball scholarship.
Looking back to his favorite career moments he points to the Pipeline. Being a goofyfoot, the North Shore helped him get stuffed in the barrel, one wave after another. He also loved Fiji’s Cloud Break Mundaka, Spain where left tubes seem to go forever.
“We spent two weeks surfing back in the tube on double overhead waves at Mundaka. I never got burned out because it was so consistent and I got any wave I wanted. Now it’s packed all the time. I also got a week at South Africa Jeffrey’s Bay, where I polished my backside in 6- to 8-foot’ tubes the whole time.”
Like all pros, Frohoff had his near death experiences. His most memorable was at the Billabong Pro that started at Sunset. When it began closing out at 30-feet, the contest was moved to Waimea Bay, where the sets were also closing out.
“It was huge and scary. A few of the Aussie pros wouldn’t go out. I had to go out or be I’d be eliminated from the next contest. I borrowed an 8-foot-6 gun. Everybody else was riding 10-foot guns. I quickly learned why. I charged out to the boil when a huge set loomed on the horizon. It was the biggest set I had ever seen. Ben Aipa was screaming for me to catch the second wave. I paddled inside the boil to get in and free fell down the face. As I started my turn, the lip came down on my head, sending me to the bottom. I was under for two waves while my surfboard tombstoned on the surface, thanks to my leash. I pulled myself up the leash and was almost where I could get a breath when the third set wave drove me back down to the bottom. I figured this was it and I was never coming up. Then all of a sudden I was at the surface and back on my board. I wanted to get out but I knew if I did I would never surf Waimea Bay again. I caught one more wave and rode it in before my heat ended. That wipeout gave me a whiplash that kept me out of the water for a week. ER HBWOF