Early Season Swells of Biarritz, France

LA based photographer Matt Wessen chased the early season swells of Biarritz, France, with a few of our favourites Francophonic sliders.
The Boys spent a few weeks scouring the Basque coast. Sun may have been spare, but a foot over-head is a worth while trade off. They don't look too shabby in some shwag from our Fall/Winter 2013 collection either.

Lightning Bolt Fall Winter 2013 Collection :: Buy Online

Wheels and Waves 2013 (Second Edition)

Night of legends at the Wheels and Waves gallery exhibit...The BMW R7 (valued @ $1M) was elegant and a lesson in style! Crazy night, beyond expectations... thanks to everyone who came down! Tonight: Drag Races at Ixtassou.

 

 

Official Website: http://www.wheels-and-waves.com/

Lightning Bolt showcases the Limited Edition of Pipeliners at the Wheels and Waves 2013 Event

After a gestation of 4 years and the eventual birth of Wheels and Waves in 2012, the Southsiders will repeat their meeting in the magical town of Biarritz. As in 2012 over a long weekend - 13,14,15 and 16 of June - the event will mix custom and classic cars and bikes, surf, international art as well as music at the Biarritz Lighthouse.

Following the initial grand reveal to the public at colette Paris, Lightning Bolt Boards Collector Series will be now showcased at the Wheels & Waves exhibit at the Galerie 13 Avril. In honor of over 40 years of Aloha spirit, Lightning Bolt has invited five of the most unique, inspirational and legendary Lightning Bolt shapers - Gerry Lopez, Barry Kanaiaupuni, Tom Parrish, Rory Russell and Reno Abellira - to shape six Pipeliner surfboards they each felt embodied the roots the era.

In addition, the new Bolt Board Program, revived by our friend and legendary shaper Craig Hollingsworth, will be in Biarritz for testing with our team and crew. With our elemental symbol centered on the stringer, each board is iconic and beautifully encapsulates a style and a grace designed to call out the innovative spirit within each surfer who rides them. The idea is to take 70’s inspired shapes and meld them with modern sentiment and style in the water, so rippable and inspired that groms and dinos alike may bask in the glow of nostalgia…while landing an aerial so crisp it cracks a salty smile.

There will also be a boutique on site selling Lightning Bolt products.
So many reasons not to miss it!

Virgin Radio and TV en tournée ao Pays Basque à Biarritz

Pour la partie finale, Bruno Guillon et Camille du spécial 17H00 -20H00 de VIRGIN RADIO se sont testés au Paddle.

"J'ai été embauché par la régie pour faire le moniteur pendant exactement 20 secondes.
C'était assez amusant de mettre de jeunes et frêles parisiens sur la planche dans des conditions de mer gantesques", Nicolas Pinot, représentant des ventes de Lightning Bolt en France

Cliquez ici pour voir le vidéo

Jeremy Brasset is the newest team rider

Now that our clothing line already reached the french surfshops, it’s with great enthusiasm that we proudly announce our first French team rider.

Jérémy Brasset was born in the beautiful Martinique, he is 23 years old, but is now living in France, more precisely in Bidart. He is a polyvalent surfer, but his foremost attribute is about his sea passion: the trips, the waves, the family and all friends.
We welcome him to the team
BIENVENUE À L’ÉQUIPE JEJE

Here’s a short summary of his surf results in the past:
7° -France Open 2007
9° - WQS 2* de Barbade
3° professional tour OP Single Trophee 2006
4° amateur tour OP Royal Single Trophee 2006
Champion of Martinique Open 2005
Winner « Royal Single Trophy 2005 » teams

11° Pro Junior 2004 and 2003 (½ finals pro junior Hossegor, Ericeira)
Champion of Martinique Open 2003
Champion of Martinique Junior 2002
Champion of France Minimes 1999

Rory Russell roadtrip by Jonathan Paskowitz – Part II

Jonathan continues his roadtrip report. After Pukas, they continue to France...

"We got to Pukas and were so stoked to meet our friends there. Rory ran into Peter Daniels a legendary shaper and dear friend who he had many adventures with and Matt Biolas the owner of the Lost Brand and a good friend of mine from San Clemente, California. Not to mention the Puka’s owner son, Miguel. The shop there was amazing, I have never seen such a well run factory anywhere in the world.

We then headed north to Biarritz in France. We had invited the boys to come visit us at the Uncle Zizu surf shop for a little party the next day.
The French surf scene in Biarritz was awesome! The town is amazing, the hotel was beautiful and the French guys that meet us were great, Nicolas Pinot and the French photographer Yves Sobanski.
We went to the Surf Session magazine office and surfed cold overcast waves that day, it was gloomy and very cold but the people were great .
We had a good promotion with an awesome surfshop called More and Less, and we met a great guy from the local paper meet to have an interview. Turned out Rory had met him years and years before at the Pipemasters dinner when he was in Hawaii for the newspaper Sud-Qwest.
We got together later that night with our whole team, the local surfers and heroes like Peter Danels or the world class champion, one of the creators of a famous surf brand Jeff Hackman, and a slew of others at the Uncle Zizu Surf Shop.

We then went to an amazing space where we met one of the premier shapers in the area JP or Jean Pierre Stark, we checked out his amazing shop and met his team
Rory there shaped the first Pipliner board to be made in France ever…. Nicolas and Yves Sobanski were crying, they were so happy!!!!

It was a great adventure and so many nice people along the way.
We said our goodbyes and the boys started their 10 hour drive back home."

Rory Russell roadtrip by Jonathan Paskowitz – Part I

Jonathan Paskowitz, our international brand manager was there and tells us what happened around the legendary Rory Russell in his roadtrip in Europe.

"As I arrived to Portugal a few days before, I went to Porto airport and picked up Rory Russell with the original surf hero from Portugal Pedro Lima, a 75 year old man that is not old. He is full of life and surfed before surfing ever existed in Portugal. Pedro was a diver with Jacques Cousteau and pioneered body surfing in Europe long before there were even surfers in the European community.

We only stayed one day in Porto then drove to Lisbon the next day to meet the press and show the fall line to the Portuguese press and local magazines. We had a great time in Lisbon on the beach on a cliff overlooking one of Lisbon’s premier surf beaches. Rory even went into the water to help some kids surf with Bryan Porter our man from the states. The kids looked like they had a great time and Rory and Bryan we very funny with them. Back to Porto again and we started off on the Rory Road Trip to Spain and France. We picked up the guys Joao Diogo and the Lightning Bolt team riders Alexandre Ferreira and Pedro Soares, our new friends on the next part of this adventure. We drove north out of Porto to the boarder of Spain, rocky green mountains and little villages with farms. Really an incredible rich and glorious view whenever you looked out the window.

The Europeans maps are a joke!!! So hard to read. We missed our turn so many times I thought we would never get there. Mundaka was our first stop and we were trying desperately to get there. Finally after so many turns, we got to Mundaka and found the hotel Mundaka. It was now 04:00 am!!!!

We woke up the next day to meet our Spanish salesman Eduardo, great guy with a lot of style, he brought his charming girlfriend with him and was going to take us to meet a writer from a Spanish surfing magazine as well as a famous surfboard collector in the area.

We headed off for a little adventure in the area next to us in Bilbao. We all really wanted to see the city and have a dinner in the main town, we were really surprised to see the architecture and the modern mixed with the old.

In Mundaka the surf was really small but you could see the incredible potential of the waves there. We said goodbye to our new friends there and dropped into the Mundaka surf shop before leaving on the way up the coast to our next stop France. We would stop on the boarder to see the Pukas surfboard shop on the way.

Rory Russell Roadtrip

After more than 30 years, Rory Russell is back again with Lightning Bolt, a brand that never really left his heart.
And this month, you have the opportunity to meet him if you are in Portugal, Spain or France.
Rory Russell will be on a Roadtrip (20-26 March) together with Lightning Bolt Team Riders Pedro Soares and Alexandre Ferreira (aka Xaninho) and also Lightning Bolt USA Brand Manager Jonathan Paskowitz.

He'll arrive next Wednesday to Portugal, then the team will leave in a Lightning Bolt Van directly to Mundaka on the 21st, and from the 23rd to 26th they will stay in Biarritz

The Pipeliner Shaper didn't come to Europe since 1983 and this is a rare chance to meet this natural born surfer and entertainer.

The Pipeline Surf Legend moved to Hawaii with his family in 1964 and lived on Oahu's famous North Shore for 38 years. He has won several world class surf championships including: two Pipe masters, 1976 and 1977, Waimea Pro in Brazil, 1975; All Japan pro in Chiba Japan, 1976; and Oahu North Shore Lightning Bolt Surf Championships in 1977.
Besides his great achievements in contests, he’s also famous for his entertaining character. Rory has co-starred in such surfing films as five Summer Stories, Sundance, Red Hot Blue, Hot Lips and Inner Tubes, Surf Superstars and he has also made numerous TV appearances including on ABC's wide world of sports, ABC's American sportsman and many promotional appearances in TV and magazines (surfing, surfer, surfing world).
Rory has been involved with teaching people how to surf for 20 years and his students have included Bill Murray who he taught to surf while in Indonesia. Rory's surfing exploits are legendary and his students have a great time in his classes.