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In the early seventies, when legendary Gerry Lopez was busy turning the Lightning Bolt logo into the most powerful symbol of the surfing world, he had started, at the same time, the “short board revolution” in Hawaii. The huge 12-foot boards, inspired by the ancestral Polynesian wooden flat planks, were then replaced by boards with shapes suited to the various wave sizes and types.
They were no longer flat and started having a curved bottom (rocker) enabling sharper turns and they also became narrower to drop into big waves, at high speed, escaping the lip, but with sufficient length to absorb the impact of the water surface turbulence.
His 9’ Guns and 7‘or 8’ Mini-Guns, which had won so many times at Pipeline for Gerry, and later for his fellow surfer and shaper Rory Russell, displayed the Bolt symbol with pride, inspiring the brand’s slogan:“The Bolt - more often seen coming out of the waves’ tubes, across the world”.
With all this prestige and heritage, Lightning Bolt is presenting a range of models of its Classic Boards conceived by three traditional LB shapers: Rory Russell from Hawaii, Craig Hollingsworth, from California and Graham Smith, from South Africa. From these different areas, they have shaped LB surfboards, maintaining the traditional and innovative characteristics for all types of waves, which made this board brand a legend.
Right now, if you want to order one or to know the prices, you must send your request by e-mail to info@lightningbolt.eu.com.
See the full catalogue here.
Rory Russell
He is himself a legend as a shaper, after the several world class
championships he won and as a Pipeline Contest twice winner, riding boards with the Bolt logo, he conceived and shaped fast, reliable and manoeuvrable for such big and hollow waves.
And also as many surf films movie star, like Five Summer Stories and many others.
After more than 30 years, Rory is back again with Lightning Bolt, a brand that never really left his heart. In meantime, he has been teaching people to surf, for the last twenty years, being an example of the “real spirit of surfing”.
Graham Smith
From South Africa, Graham Smith has shaped, sprayed and glassed over 50.000 boards with “passion and finesse”, as he says, during his 40 years of activity, for many great surfers in the world.
In the beginning of his surfing career, Graham was a member, in S. Africa, of Mike Larmont’s surfing team, using LB boards shaped by him who had, in 1973, obtained the rights to the Lightning Bolt International brand. He made boards with Larmont, until opening in 1978 a board factory with the legendary Shawn Tomson who had already won a Pipeline Contest in 1977, becoming later World Champion.
At that time, many famous surfers like Ian Cairns, Shawn Tomson, Jeff Hakman and Mark Richards, inventor of the “Twin Fins”, rode on Lightning Bolt boards, seen on all surfing films of that period.
When in 1986 John Shimooka and Sunny Garcia, then 15 years old, arrived from Hawaii to S. Africa to compete, were put under Graham Smith’s guidance, using the boards he shaped specially for them, with all his knowledge and experience, to complement their surfing talent and different styles.
All this knowledge, experience and charm will be present in our “Lightning Bolt” range and now it is up to you to choose the board which best suits your surfing style and aspirations and find out why they became so famous…
Craig Hollingsworth
Craig has been shaping surfboards since 1973. Craig was born and raised in Southern California, and a world class surfer himself. Craig has travelled the world over perfecting his designs.
With his long time experience and hands-on-approach to testing surfboard performance, Hollingsworth is one of the most versatile shapers in the world today.
