It’s 7 am, Malibu, California time, and two-year-old Yama, is bright-eyed, slurping on a milk bottle, happily sandwiched on the bed between her parents Frankie Harrer and Hugo Boserup. Balance, unsurprisingly, doesn’t seem to be an issue. Her mum grew up in Malibu surfing the beaches just to the north at Point Duma and Zuma Beach. A competitive phenom as a teenager, Frankie turned her back on the competitive scene in her early 20s to carve a name and career out of her effortless style and tuberiding talent in waves of consequence.
Hugo is a Danish skateboarder who after a stint building terrain parks at home, turned pro. His speed, style and grace come with a fast, hard-charging style. Flow is hard to define, though watching Hugo’s clips isn’t a bad place to get a handle on the concept. The pair, or trio, have just signed on as Db Ambassadors.
“We were just in Hawaii, with Frankie competing in the Vans Pipe Masters,” said Boserup. “When Pipe was breaking, I was on baby duty, and in between Frankie's surf sessions I'd hit the skate bowl close to Pipeline.”
The 26-year-old grew up in Copenhagen, where most of the skating is done on ledges and street features. “On the North Shore though, the kids were flying around, surfing the bowl, doing fun lines and less technical tricks, but with a real fun feel to it," he said. "I loved that style of skating.”
Meanwhile, Harrer was getting a feel for Pipeline. Known for her hard charging at barrelling waves such as Teahupo'o, she has a dislike for competition and crowds.
“That meant I was pretty nervous at The Pipe Masters,” she said. “But the chance to get to know the wave better and surf the wave was incredible.” Harrer finished a credible sixth place, just missing out on the Final. The Hawaii trip was a pretty good illustration of the way the young parents manage to combine their surf and skate careers, whilst putting Yama at the centre of it all.
“If it’s a location like Hawaii, then surfing gets a little more of the priority and if we are at a skate location, then Hugo’s work and filming takes precedence,” says Harrer. “It basically works out we share the load pretty much 50/50.”