Frankie Harrer On Being A Tube Lord

All photos and video by Quinn Graham.

To be distinctive in the surfing world is a hard feat at the best of times.

Add being a new mum into that mix and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone doing it better than Frankie Harrer. Taking cool mum to a whole new level (alongside her Danish pro skater hubby Hugo Boserup), Frankie is redefining what it means to be a young, traveling, sporting pro parent, stacking clips around the globe with a grom in tow. Having dropped her recent self-titled film earlier this year—filmed by her long-time Malibu friend Quinn Graham, with cameos from her husband, daughter, and friends Macy Callaghan, Kobe Hughes, and Andrew Jacobson—we decided a call to the tube lord was in order.

Hey Frankie.

Hey! 

Give us an intro to the film, the inspiration, and how long did it take to put it together?

It’s pretty much just a little compilation of my surf trips I went on in 2022. I think the trips are all between May-November. I’ve never saved clips all year for a proper edit or anything, and I thought it would be cool to try and make something that lives somewhere outside of just Instagram. A thing hopefully people want to watch, and something I can look back on as a memory of a fun year, and for Yara to look at some point and see what we were up to while she was a little baby. Quinn is so talented, and it’s been so cool seeing him do his thing through this project. 

How did you come to work with Quinn?

We both grew up in Malibu. It’s a small community, and we just got to film a bit at home randomly. It blossomed from there to go on more trips together, and we decided to give this project a shot. 

Is being a free surfer actually the best job in the world? Are there any bad days?

Ha-ha, it’s pretty lucky/amazing. I do what I love most as a job. It can be stressful at times, though. I’m trying to find another main sponsor right now and make a living. But I’m thankful for the time I’ve gotten to do it and every moment that it hopefully continues.

What is your take on social media and the surf industry these days?

It’s all part of it. I’m not the best at social and posting a lot, but I think it’s cool that it can be an outlet for people to express themselves. I think the industry likes the clickbait vlog style, which isn’t really my thing, but I guess it brings business? There’s a balance for everything, I think, at the end of the day. Try and have it help your career a bit, and still be personal and fun to play with. 

A female free surfing career is pretty rare at the best of times, but now you’ve added mum into the mix, do you feel any extra pressure with that title? Especially because you’ll automatically become a huge inspiration for any surfing mum out there.

Ha-ha, thanks. I hope some moms think it’s cool:). I guess there’s more pressure in trying to find the balance between family and surf career, but I’m just trying to stay in the moment. Keep it chill and fun, and be there for my family as the best mother I can be. I’m still figuring it out, but it’s been a great journey so far. 

How have sponsors reacted to this new life transition?

They’ve been so supportive. Quiksilver actually signed me while I was pregnant, which was really cool. But they stop sponsoring women recently, so that’s a bummer. Ha-ha.

What’s scarier: surfing Teahupo’o or raising a kid?

Raising a kid is an amount of scary all the time, even when you’re sleeping, ha-ha. 

Does being married to a pro skater come with a deeper understanding of the ‘pro athlete’ life, or is it difficult to manage coexisting film deadlines, travel and sponsor requirements between you both? 

Hugo is the best. It actually works really well for us. We both have trips and goals but are pretty flexible day to day. It usually works out where one of us can be with Yara when the other is on a trip or out for the day. When there’s swell, I surf more, and when there isn’t, he skates more. I think it makes us both better parents and partners because we have our own things happening.

Was the husband cameo always a part of the plan for this film?  

We were actually going to make another little edit from Europe outside of this video, but Quinn ended up using the clips in this and it worked out. We do a lot of trips together, so it’s cool to get a little section of him! 

Can we expect to see you in a cameo in one of his videos too? Surely there’s a spot somewhere in the world where he can hit something while you’re charging in the background on the beach.

Ha-ha. We want to go somewhere like that! We always try and see if he can skate in the places I usually go to surf, and vice versa. Fun to look outside of the normal places for both of us! 

I’ve seen you dabble in a few different projects (like fashion and tattoos) over the years outside of surfing; how important is it for you to establish yourself freestanding of the surf world? Tell us about those other pursuits and interests

I guess I like clothes, and tattooing is fun, lol. I just like to try things.  And I can’t just think about surfing, that’s stressful. I think it’s good to be curious and open to new things. Never know where that’ll take you. That’s the fun of it. 

The future for Frankie?

Hopefully get to make some more videos and do the kind of surfing that I like to do! 

Shout outs?

Family, friends, sponsors, beautiful places I get to go, and beautiful people that share them with us. Thank you so much to everyone, really.