I grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii in the late 1960's 70's 80's 90's & now Maui HI. and I was always stoked when I would paddel out at 6:00 am Ala Moana Bowls, and there would be 3 to 4 guys out in 4 to 6 feet perfect Barrels ! Well it would be Jerry, Reno, Alden & Some times Little Mike HO too! and we all would have a board shaped by Jerry Lopez at that time he was still shaping on Piikoi Street for Surf-line, HI. I will never forget one afternoon I walked up the street (Piikoi) past Records Hawaii , well I went to the back of the Store to chat with Jerry about a new board, and all of a sudden I see huge flames shooting out of the old metal shed and then Jerry runs out and hes shaking of flames from himself! And turns to me very com' and says " Dame Hot Coat"!! and just gave me that old Jerry Lopez nice smile! Well I decided to wait on speaking to him about shaping me a new board. A few weeks later I went to his new shop on Kapiolani Blvd- Ground Floor. *** The New Lightning Bolt Store**** and I think after the fire he decided it was time to move on to better place in his life & future Yes I did end up having him make me a Brand New Bolt 7.0 Board, Best Surfboard I have ever owned, it was my South Shore Tube Rider.... Boy those were the Best Days of my Life!! I was just a young guy and they all called me Da' Mouse....
Hey howzit, I was about 10, little haole’ boy hanging out watching these guys... finally worked up the nerve too paddle my buddys big gun out at Ala Moana... never looked back, of course I didn’t know who anybody was back then, they all were just super cool guys that I wanted to surf with!
@@christimko9296 That's funny that your comet you were only 10, I was a little older than you in 1970 seeing that I was born in 55 and now I still surf Every Day and have been retired in Maui Hawaii for the last 10 years and now still Surfing more than when I was young living on Oahu, I even have Lighting Bolt Surf Racks on my car from Jerry when he was living up country , I was just up at his Home & Shop he built here on Maui, and a Great Artist & Welder purchased the home and makes all his Metal Sculpture's in the same Shop now! Curious Chris are you still Surfing? With the new boards I getting better Barrels than I did on my 6'6" Lighting Bolt that Jerry Made for me and it was only $90.00 dollars and I would feel it was a lot then....WoW has the Cost Changed but the waves are Still Great!! I just got back from a Great Dawn Patrol 3 Mins from my Home.... Maui has Great Surf with few people if Ya' Know where us locals Go!! Have a Great New Year, Lots of Barrels to You!
@@randallmiller3181 haven’t surfed in a long time, switched too bodyboard, plus I now live on the east coast in Maryland, always liked Jerry, those guys were like gods too me as a kid! I also took up snowboarding about 20 years ago. Plan on picking surfing back up, headed for a North Carolina vacation! Happy New Year to you and yours surfs up! 🤙
wish i would have bought every bolt board i came across at garage sales in the 80s ,, still have some original shirts ,, nice to see Bill Barnfield get some luv ,,, the one picture
I didn't realize at the time how lucky I was to have been a surfer in the 70's. I bought every Surfer & Surfing magazine as soon as they hit the stands to see my heroes Gerry Lopez and Rory Russell tearing it up on their Bolts!!! I agree with Gerry, those were the absolute best times to be a surfer.
Well done! One of the best surfing docs out there, IMHO. Just enough vintage material to give the flavor of the time without beating the viewer over the head with it and good use of current footage for perspective and background. Thank you!
I didn't realize at the time how lucky I was to have been a surfer in the 70's. I bought every Surfer & Surfing magazine as soon as they hit the stands to see my heroes Gerry Lopez and Rory Russell tearing it up on their Bolts!!! I agree with Gerry, those were the absolute best times to be a surfer.
GROWING UP IN LAGUNA BEACH IN THE 1970,S I REMEMBER GOING TO THE THEATER TO HEAR HONK PLAY.THIS WAS JUST AFTER 5 SUMMER STORIES CAME OUT & THE MUSIC PIPELINE SEQUENCE WAS THE NUMBER 1 SONG IN THE ISLANDS. GETTING UP BEFORE SCHOOL TO HIT THALIA STREET & TRAVELING TO SALT CREEK, TRESTLE,S OR HUNTINGTON CLIFFS ON THE WEEKEND,S ,LIVING THE STOKE. ODDLY I DONT SEE THAT MANY SURFERS IN TODAYS LAGUNA SURF SCENE...PRICED OUT OF THE COMMUNITY.
@@richardconner1283 Agreed on all counts. Good times long gone. Grew up in the Canyon, as a kid usually got stuck in town at Brooks St etc. Rockpiles was my first big wave experience, broke my board hahaha
Gerry and Rory. I grew up in Huntington Beach in the 70s. You guys were my total heroes. While other kids loved the Dodgers or Rams, I loved surfing. Here I am at age 55. Living in the Colorado mtns. And the pull of the ocean, the waves, ...... I'm about to leave Everything and everyone I've known for the last 25 year's of living in the thin air. Because that pull is so strong now that it cannot be denied. Gotta Surf!!! Can you guys give me a job? I'll move anywhere with warm water and waves. The plan is San Diego. But working for Lightning Bolt would Stoke me enough to go just about Anywhere. Bless you guys! Wish me luck and good surf. A Patriot
Back then all surfers in high school in the U.S.A. doodled lightning bolts on their notebooks while day dreaming of surfing. Likely also in Australia, Brazil, Columbia. Those bolts take skill to draw.
I remember walking into a local surf shop at 7-8 yrs old on a beautiful summer day in the mid-70’s and seeing those beautiful shiny Lightning Bolt boards all lined up in the rack.
My first board in 73' was a Bolt and I loved it. The 70's and 80's were great for surfing. Then it became too competitive. But I still found my free ride spiritual mindset. Thanks for the inspiration that changed my life Gerry and Rory. 🙏🏝🏂🌊💙 Love you guys .
@@holasanja6618 ok but who cares about that, point is it was a giant step forward in modern surfing at that time these guys, and the ozzys , were amongst the best, and changed the whole game to max power, it was very special time to be a true beach bum, 100% surfer.Shit GERRY even came down to oz(1978?) just to surf a desert wave(cactus) he stated was as epic as pipeline but too shark infested haha and vowed never to return because of close call with white pointer NO SHIT
The start of Gerry Lopez and Lightning Bolt was when I first started surfing in 1974 at 12 on a Rick's Surfboards, South Bay in LA, 5'5" very wide tail twin fin fish while almost everyone was either on a longboard or a 6'5" or longer single fin pin tail. Four years later in 1978 at 16 and being a goofy foot my ideal spot was Pipeline. By 78 I had the skills to handle the North Shore, the last 6 months I had been riding a 6'2" Simon Anderson thruster, going from a 6'2" single fin, pin to a three fin opened up performance surfing to me and I had advanced further those six months than the first 3-1/2 years since I started. Surfing every single day being an El Porto/ Hamerland grom at by far the heaviest wave this side of the Wedge, gave me experience in heavier waves, (I thought) it at least taught me how to hold my breath longer. The top of my idol list was mainly Gerry for his goofy foot tube riding and then with Australian Pete Townend who had a great style and defied gravity, pulling off the moves I emulated. Later on in the early 80's he moved to California, married a Socal gal and we met one day at trestles and became friends. Until about 2004 we surfed together often or took trips to Mexico and Costa Rica. I have only talked to him on the phone since 2004. Just like myself, our work, family and age gets in the way of surfing everyday, about once a week is all I can find time to do. Pete did fill me in on his hui days and for him they were frightening and put a bad light on the people that made it hard just to go out and surf, because fearing the wave at Pipeline was enough to last a lifetime. This was a great time to surf on the North Shore because it was after the longboard era, but about 5 years before the hui, then it went Kabluwi and I was outta there with my blonde hair an green eyes. The hui were really nothing but thugs that 99 times out of 100 would attack in force, they were the ass of the donkey and were doing nothing but hunting down the light skinned, light haired surfers even when nothing had happened. I had 4 great winters on the North Shore until hui-dom ruined the place in the name of anything but Hawaiian kindness. Went back in 1990 and never since. I read an artical on the North Shore and how the hui may have been the reason for the decline in tourism by 25% to 30% during the 80's and 90's! while today they still have a 4% to 6% affect on tourism.
P&Wengineering I remember Rick boards on 8th and PCH I was ask to surf for them but liked Bing boards better. Later I bought a bolt and moved to Guam. Redondo break wall was or is a great break in the winter.
I agree , the hi did ruin alot of days out surfing. I was also Blonde a sun bleached blonde and a lifeguard on the North Shore out at Mokliea and I problems sometimes at my own beach and break. I think someone told me at the time in the early 80s that the name of the break was call Dave's Star. I had problems with hui until I met Buzzy Kerbox on a flight from Socal to Hawaii . Then Buzzy, MR, Shaun Tompson Simon Anderson started to come out then hui wouldn't be so bad. My roommate had the red Lighting Bolt log that had thick heaves rails single fin 6'4 . At the time I was surfing a twin fin channel bottom Town and Countryboard that weight half as much as my roommates board. The hui always wanted to borrow by board be abuse it "looked like one sissy board bra , you should let me see yo board bra, or you like beef already " I heard those words all the time. But I've seen them take a holeole (can't remember how to spell it) but I've see6the hui break a white boys board but I never gave in. I would see them a bar called STEAMERS in Haleiwa by a grocery store called IGA. But they would never bother me there. They just made life hard. I wonder if all those places have changed?
My first 3 boards were a Lighting Bolt single fi then a Natural Art single fin and a Town and Country twin fin channel bottom. All 3 I bought in Hawaii. My old roommate from Hawaii still has his Simon Anderson Thruster that he bought used at a little shop on the North Shore back in 1980.
I made a mistake here in my comment. My roommate started out on a red board with the big yellow Lightening Bolt on the bottom with rea thick board then the Simon Anderson Thurster!
@@3_too_won ok?? I said in 80, but since I posted this he corrected me and said he bought used in 83. I don't remember dates! This was a long time ago!
At that time mid seventies we were making our own thrusters with these glue own little fins from Surfboards Hawaii, to go with double winger pins, diamond tails and round pins
I'm 65 and still hopelessly passionate about surfing as I was when I was 10 and still get out there a few times a week. I never owned one but Lightning Bolt was iconic to me. This was a really GOOD video. Thanks!
Joe B ,me 62, remember the shop in town, rode several boards, straight from shapers ,north shore,mo cheap!! Lightning bolt was da bestest!! Another 1, rip Dick Brewer boards were magical, even going to Pearl city T and C original shop. Craig was another example. Peace westside oahu!
@@MK-su6eg I was living on Kauai then. I remember visiting Oahu one summer and hearing a commercial on the radio that they played all the time that went like this: “The waves are hot! Get your sting wing swallow today!” It was for Ben Aipa’s Sting. Town and Country, I think.
@@joeblow1942 that sounds like it!!, ? Close enough!!! I rode my friends aipa stinger!! He went to chaminade, ala California, where I met in college sd California. Cut backs were insane!! Also rode a malcolm ,Duncan,bros Bonzer, in Newport beach!!! That was the ORIGINAL trip fin,with channeled bottom!!! Fastest 4 sure ! Really lucky to be able 2 experience!!, aloha!!
@@MK-su6eg For years I called it the “Stinger” until Ben Aipa himself corrected me. He was being honored at The Boardroom Show in Del Mar California a few years back and told me it was the “Sting.”🤙🏼🏄♂️
Back in the late 1970's, I owned an orange and red Lightning Bolt surfboard, it was shaped by Dwight Dunn. The thing was 6'8" had 3" hard rails, I was just learning to surf. That board hit me every freakin time I took it out... I don't think it liked being in Huntington Beach waves... only Hawaii lol
Had this pink and blue striped ⚡4 fin that I used to shred Nahoon on circa 1984, then prowl the night spots in a yellow long sleeve T with ⚡ down the arms⚡ jeans, ⚡earing
Surfed a 7 ft 2 in single fin swallow tail red lightning bolt in san diego in 1975. That board actually made a humming noise when it was in the zone.I loved that board.This video lists Bernie Baker as lightning bolt employee,but he actually was a contest winner , I think early on , then photographer. He also was contest judge and now runs upscale hostile in north shore.Stayed there ,it was niiiiice!!
1974 I had a Gerry Lopez autographed surfboard it was 611 it has found into a swallowtail it was blue with a yellow lightning bolt Single Fin I surfed that board at Big Rock San Diego sunset cliffs San Diego k-55 Mexico it was one of the best times of my life
That humming noise may be coming from your fin. Is the glass cracked around the base of the fin? I assume your fin was glassed on, as skeg boxes weren’t in widespread use in 1975.
My Doctor who has retired about 2 years ago due to PARKINSON'S showed me his LIGHTING BOLT SURF BOARD PICTURE.....JERRY made it for him...He doesn't surf..He just layed on it and the Boat pulled him around but he can't even do that now because of the Disease...... JERRY lives in Bend Oregon besides Hawaii...I can't tell you the Docs name but they call him the....LOVING DOC
I was 12 dad said i wad old enough to surf on my ownr my first lightning bolt board was purchased at mcculley surf shop for $200... 38 yrs later Cheeehuuu...still hitting it...ALOHA for the memories
Brings back a lot of memories for me as a grommet in Australia the 80's. Brands like lightning bolt, Crystal Cylinders, MR, Hot Tuna on a backdrop of bush weed bongs, hamburgers and milkshakes. Man I used to get so sun burnt, with just a smear of zinc cream on the nose and lips as protection, would spend literally 8 hrs a day in the ocean if there was waves. Even if there was no swell we'd be snorkelling or fishing. sigh...Now I'm just another middle aged dude working for the man for a wage trying to raise kids.
Thank you to all the other surfers of the 70's and on. From an Aussie Lighting Bolt was an inspiration . I shaped and glassed my own board at 14. The surf movies took off and we all found a place to go that was and still is and always will be 'a pathway' or meditative experience which helps people grow. The reflection has been very positive.
Thanks for this stoked. I would define LB - through my adolescent eyes - as 'Great, stylish surfers getting barrelled on huge beautiful waves.' My dream.
Being from the east coast of central Florida, the volt logo was the best of things doodled on our book covers at school in 1976. We all just loved Gerry Lopez as the best of surfers. None of us had the bolt board, but we sure thought the world of them. And the style that Gerry had was to be copied. Our waves were small in comparison. Except on hurricane days. Oh, how much i miss the days of no worries, just surf. My brothers and their kids have the bolt tattooed on their right shoulders. It was cool then, and now as I think of it. Thanks for the video.
I dreamed about surfing since 20 (we have no ocean in our country). Now I am almost 40 and bought longboard from Gerry Lopez and relocate near ocean. Dreams come true. Let's continue surf 😊
Business with friends . Very delicate situation... Money is the route of all bogusness. This is when surfing was just surfing...still nothing beats scoring a great day with just your buds .. money don't buy that
I was blessed to be there, and knew it. Grom from Caly planted on Oahu junior year in H.S. From Jalama Beach to the North Shore in a matter of days....Watched Gerry at Pipe on Wide World of Sports in '73, and months later sitting on the sand watching him and RR tearing it up at first light. Only guys out....that was a time that is just beyond description. Not as many bodies in the world, no WSL, no Volcom House, (think that was Gerry's place actually)......just simple, brutal, straight up goodness....thats gone now, save for us old guys who were there and wouldnt trade it for anything. Thank you Gerry.
I started surfing right at the end of Lightning Bolt. I remember my brother had one. It would be pretty cool to still have. Surfing is about one word. FREEDOM. Aloha to all on this video.
Freedom is what it's about. Those days were the best. Surfing is dead. It was ment for the few, not so many. But I think we can still slide on a few ... here in the east coast of SA still some uncrowded spots.
I add this comment for what Lightning Bolt meant to myself. It was my 8th grade graduation trip to visit a bro I grew up with down the road from Torrance Beach in CA had moved to Oahu with his family. 13 years old heading to Oahu to see Jeff and go to to the Bolt shop on Kapiolani Blvd and buy a board at Lightening Bolt for my summer of surfing on Oahu. Gerry was the pipe masters champ and as we went into the shop there in the back was Gerry Lopez a boyhood hero talking to two babes in Bikinis. I remember it was a 6'7" round/squash tail orange with a red Lightning Bolt. I forked out the $70 cash and my dream summer began. I'd been surfing for a year or so but that few months with my Bolt was instrumental in igniting my surfing lifestyle and one with Gerry in the shop and walking out with the board I've never forgotten 48 years later. Thank You Gerry....PS I also saw 5 summer stories on Oahu that summer :)
FUN FACT,THE BAND THAT PLAYED THE SOUNDTRACK FOR 5 SUMMER'S STORIES,HONK WAS PLAYING AT A MAMMOTH MTN CALIF VENUE CIRCA 1977. THEIR GUITARIST HAD A LITTLE TOO MUCH TO DRINK.ERIC CLAPTON WAS IN THE AUDIENCE & HAD HEARD THAT ALBUM ONCE. AFTER THE BANDS SHORT BREAK,HE GOT UP ON STAGE & FINISHED THEIR SET PLAYING AT THE END, PIPELINE SEQUENCE. HIWS THAT FOR CACHE.?
Stepson's account. In the fall of 1971 I worked trimming Brussel Sprouts at Green Giant in Watsonville on swing shift after going to school all day at Cabrillo College in Aptos. My dream was to get to the North Shore. I went to the Haut surf shop on 41st Ave at the time and wanted a board for Hawaii. It wasn't Doug who had sold me a board earlier, but this guy told me not to waste my time with a California shaped board and to go to the Lightening Bolt shop in Honolulu and tell them that he sent me and ask for a discount. I did just that and the guy at the counter said sure, 10 bucks off any board in the shop. There was this green Lightening Bolt board, semi gun, 7'4" that spoke to me. Big white bolt on the deck and a red fin it had chined rails and was a pintail shaped not by Gerry but by Wayne Santos. I put a deposit down and came back the next day with cash. Another guy was at the counter and he just bitched and complained that I was getting a discount on a Wayne Santos but he honored the sale. $105 bucks. Best board I ever owned. The red fin came in handy one day when I lost it into the rip at Leftovers. A green board is the worse to spot floating out to see but there was that red fin like a flag. I was able to find a place on the North Shore and spent the winter and spring of 72 surfing there. I met the guy who glassed my board as I had reshaped a board and took it to him to get glassed and he had all these Lightening Bolt boards ready to be glassed in his tiny shop. It really was a consortium of shapers and glassers working for Gerry from their backyards. They all told me the same thing. Don't go to the shop again and buy direct from them. If Gerry only knew (but probably did) that was the grapevine of the North Shore. I still view it as the best purchase of my life. I generally surfed south of Wiamea but my board was ridden by a young local at the Bay and my roommate took it out into 8 to 10 Pipe. In that area my favorite was Off The Wall and the beach breaks at Eukai when they were working. Ah the days of sitting on the beach at the Pipe and watching Gerry and Tom Stone master the place. It was the first time in my life I got to see and even ride movie quality waves. I owned one pair of cords, a few tee shirts, one Aloha shirt, flip flops, and trunks from H.Mura's store in Haleiwa. I was 19, no car and a bike I found in a cane field south of Haleiwa. $42 a month for rent. Had to leave when my money ran out and the coming summer sun was already making my nose hamburger. Took the board with me even though everyone said they wouldn't work in California. Most didn't know that much about the waves north of Santa Cruz at the time. and the winter beach break at Moss Landing. It worked fine until The Lane ate it.
So Rad My best friend Carson Christ R.I.P. and I spent a lot of time with tommy he was like a dad to us.Tommy’s no bullshit attitude is classic still going strong ya tommy
Being from the east coast of central Florida, the volt logo was the best of things doodled on our book covers at school in 1976. We all just loved Gerry Lopez as the best of surfers. None of us had the bolt board, but we sure thought the world of them. And the style that Gerry had was to be copied. Our waves were small in comparison. Except on hurricane days. Oh, how much i miss the days of no worries, just surf. My brothers and their kids have the bolt tattooed on their right shoulders. It was cool then, and now as I think of it. Thanks for the video.
1980 got a lightning bolt necklace I think at miller’s outpost in the south bay ..super stoked to wear it for picture day at school at the time OP was cool but I always kinda thought lightning bolt cooler cause of Gerry Lopez
What does Lightning Bolt mean to me? Pee Chee's, Book Covers, Lockers, Desks....anything that a bored surfkid could scribble on had a Bolt on it at every Jr. High School within a 10 mile distance of the Southern Californian coastline back then. Gerry's right. You guys got it best!!!
I was a grommet in those days and had the posters on my wall they were our heroes I would skip school all the time to surf .I would walk (as no boards on bus rule) the 2kns with my board 6'.10 to go for the early, surf what ever there was on offer with hardy any crowds. My how times have changes now there is a crowd no matter what sort of dribble is on offer. Moved from the city to find a home with surf next to the beach. but the crowds have caught up as surfing became main stream back then it was looked down on to be a surfer by the main steam society i guess part of the reason was not conforming and the drugs to some degree but surfing was and is still my drug LOL .Still love surfing Still living the dream just with more people Gerry said it so well at the end We had it best. Thank you to Lighting Bolt crew. Great information in this documentary I always did wonder what happened to the brand.
Time marches on.... I feel so blessed that I learned to surf in the early 80s on a very small S. Atlantic Island 2 consistently rideable breaks never more then 8 guys on the whole island that surfed still good friends with them still surf on occasion but cant deal with crowds in Fl....No regrets!
Gerry Lopez.....I was the Loving DOC'S (D.S.) Last Patient a few years ago at the Center....He Showed me a Pic. Of the Board you made for Him.....Tell him hello for me if you see him....My last name is Little...I'm in Sisters.
My firsts board I ever road was 7’8 lightning bolt that my good friend Eddie Curtis took me out Thanksgiving morning 1985 O’side beach break about 5-7’. I thought I was going to die! But I was hooked it ruined my martial arts career. 😂✌🏻
The Best Surfing Doc. Thanks so much for doing this. I remember as a kid, before moving to Hawaii, of wearing Bolt T-shirts and drawing the logo on everything I owned. I remember the test/font of "Lightning Bolt" was the hardest to do. I grew up and read every surfing and surfer mag I could get, multiple times. I idolized all those guys. I remember, once I moved over there and my first couple of paddle outs, seeing all my surfing idols in the water. I couldn't believe it. Being in the water with Bobby, Micheal, Mark, Dane etc. I often wondered what happened to BOLT. Now we know. Thanks again Tahnei.
Use to go in back of Ala Moana shopping center after sufing as a kid checking out the surfboards and pics of Rory and Jerry those were the days no job needed Just go surf .
Asome video flashed me back to the early 80s when the surfing bug bit me. Started surfing with a 6'8 look alike bolt board. Those mags were so inspiring... Aloha from Perú
I was there back then...lived in Eva Beach in high school - remember watching Gerry and Rory at Pipe at sunrise with only the two of them out...fast forward to afternoon and one of those waves turned into a full page spread in Surfer mag. THEM were the fucking days!
I’m 57 now and I grew up in mission beach Ca, I started surfing in 73 and Jerry Lopez was my guy and to this day still is and everyone else associated with him. The 70’s was the most soulful time, with local shaper skip Frye and others......I’m so appreciative for this story being told for people to understand that our souls are the key to everything period!
I surf mission beach too!!! All the way to the jetty!!! 1977 to 83. Breakfast at MR Ds !!! Love it!!! Skates, bikes, bikinis beers and 91 X!!! Aloha!!! Back home westside oahu! I bet we surf together at mission beach.....still got my Caster single fin round pin, and a TDK thruster from sandeigo ca. named shaper ??. Tod kaminski???? memory loss 1980s. Any way!
ANYBODY? What was the name of that Surf flick in 1974/5 ? Where Jerry or Rory is side slipping down on a Red Lightening Bolt ? that massive Blue Pipeline barrel in SLO motion.......over & over to... "I hear My Train A Coming" ..........by Jimi Hendrix.???? It was the movie that made me start surfing the Summer of 1975. I've been looking for that movie ever since.
My mother owned a bookstore The Fourth Dimension at 1477 Kapiolani Blvd, two stores Ewa from Lightning Bolt shop. I'd go there after school and try to hang out. haha. My 1st board Cost $95 Davey Smith 5"9", Which included a twenty dollar trade in with a perfect condition Greg Noll tanker( Which would have been very valuable today20 bucks Back then). I had to mow lawns all summer ,as my father refused to just go and buy it for me which in hindsight was good on him. I was 11 and 12 years old ,I've been surfing since I was 6 or 7. It was like an art gallery Inside lightning bolt with all these incredible Hand shaped surfboards. Also of interest, 1 long block Walk Diamond head direction was Country Surfboards With Dick Brewer And I think Ed Serfaus
I think being a shaper was great 👍 if U were a Surfer too. A perfect life. U just wanted to do it the rest of your life. (of course) In Peru a kid in Lima, I was fixing Dings.....& was my Xtra $$ for the week........nice..! We had 1 Lightning Board brand new in our Town. All yellow.....& belong to "Tato Vial". The day Mr Gerry Lopez came for the International in Punta Rocas........we went South like 20 of us....to San Bartolo in 1 bdm all of us...lol.....was near Punta Rocas......& early morning we were all hitchhiking to watch the Event.....also Larry Bertleman, Jim Blear, Jeff Hackman (won) Waves got real big the whole tournament. It was in our Summer 1974. JAN or Feb. And to end story....Gerry didn't get too many good waves, still he did showed us his style.... but in one...he felt & rode the wave with his chest. Wave size was about 12'..(easy).... gave us a real Class... it was incredible.....& here he was unleashed. Hackman caught a huge barrel.....that lasted good 5 seconds inside That was the winner of the event.
As a surfer from New Jersey in the 60s 70s and early 80s I served a lot of boards served a lot of waves and it’s the greatest sport that God has allowed us to invent and protect us most of the time as we do this sport thank you for your channel and it was nothing but a pleasure looking at some of your clips God bless you jersey kid Alex
I grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii in the late 1960's 70's 80's 90's & now Maui HI. and I was always stoked when I would paddel out at 6:00 am Ala Moana Bowls, and there would be 3 to 4 guys out in 4 to 6 feet perfect Barrels ! Well it would be Jerry, Reno, Alden & Some times Little Mike HO too! and we all would have a board shaped by Jerry Lopez at that time he was still shaping on Piikoi Street for Surf-line, HI. I will never forget one afternoon I walked up the street (Piikoi) past Records Hawaii , well I went to the back of the Store to chat with Jerry about a new board, and all of a sudden I see huge flames shooting out of the old metal shed and then Jerry runs out and hes shaking of flames from himself! And turns to me very com' and says " Dame Hot Coat"!! and just gave me that old Jerry Lopez nice smile! Well I decided to wait on speaking to him about shaping me a new board. A few weeks later I went to his new shop on Kapiolani Blvd- Ground Floor. *** The New Lightning Bolt Store**** and I think after the fire he decided it was time to move on to better place in his life & future Yes I did end up having him make me a Brand New Bolt 7.0 Board, Best Surfboard I have ever owned, it was my South Shore Tube Rider.... Boy those were the Best Days of my Life!! I was just a young guy and they all called me Da' Mouse....
Hey howzit, I was about 10, little haole’ boy hanging out watching these guys... finally worked up the nerve too paddle my buddys big gun out at Ala Moana... never looked back, of course I didn’t know who anybody was back then, they all were just super cool guys that I wanted to surf with!
@@christimko9296 That's funny that your comet you were only 10, I was a little older than you in 1970 seeing that I was born in 55 and now I still surf Every Day and have been retired in Maui Hawaii for the last 10 years and now still Surfing more than when I was young living on Oahu, I even have Lighting Bolt Surf Racks on my car from Jerry when he was living up country , I was just up at his Home & Shop he built here on Maui, and a Great Artist & Welder purchased the home and makes all his Metal Sculpture's in the same Shop now! Curious Chris are you still Surfing?
With the new boards I getting better Barrels than I did on my 6'6" Lighting Bolt that Jerry Made for me and it was only $90.00 dollars and I would feel it was a lot then....WoW has the Cost Changed but the waves are Still Great!!
I just got back from a Great Dawn Patrol 3 Mins from my Home....
Maui has Great Surf with few people if Ya' Know where us locals Go!! Have a Great New Year, Lots of Barrels to You!
@@randallmiller3181 haven’t surfed in a long time, switched too bodyboard, plus I now live on the east coast in Maryland, always liked Jerry, those guys were like gods too me as a kid! I also took up snowboarding about 20 years ago. Plan on picking surfing back up, headed for a North Carolina vacation! Happy New Year to you and yours surfs up! 🤙
Wow thats like 4 decades of growing up!
@@richardwatkins7957 what you started the fire? Wow😢
This brand represent my soul ... since the 70s my surf life beginig
wish i would have bought every bolt board i came across at garage sales in the 80s ,, still have some original shirts ,, nice to see Bill Barnfield get some luv ,,, the one picture
Hey, thank you man! Perfectly captures the feeling.
Seventies, early eighties, no internet, no mobiles, no high tech shit.. Just pure fun and happiness!!
Nice to see Nellis! Still have my 7'8" Bolt that he shaped for me in '79. Still ride it every year on my birthday. Bitchen, bitchen, bitchen
Tommy is a great guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didn't realize at the time how lucky I was to have been a surfer in the 70's. I bought every Surfer & Surfing magazine as soon as they hit the stands to see my heroes Gerry Lopez and Rory Russell tearing it up on their Bolts!!! I agree with Gerry, those were the absolute best times to be a surfer.
Who else remembers daydreaming of perfect barrels while doodling Bolts in their notebooks in class during high school?
Well done! One of the best surfing docs out there, IMHO. Just enough vintage material to give the flavor of the time without beating the viewer over the head with it and good use of current footage for perspective and background. Thank you!
The way that Lightning Bolt got it's name was from a type of LSD that was going around called Lightning Bolt. I was there and knew the crowd.
yeah, yeah, yeah...
IT WAS INDEED THE BEST OF ALL TIMES!!
GOLDEN TIMES THAT WON'T COME BACK!!
This documentary has a great value. Mahalo for sharing!
I didn't realize at the time how lucky I was to have been a surfer in the 70's. I bought every Surfer & Surfing magazine as soon as they hit the stands to see my heroes Gerry Lopez and Rory Russell tearing it up on their Bolts!!! I agree with Gerry, those were the absolute best times to be a surfer.
GROWING UP IN LAGUNA BEACH IN THE 1970,S I REMEMBER GOING TO THE THEATER TO HEAR HONK PLAY.THIS WAS JUST AFTER 5 SUMMER STORIES CAME OUT & THE MUSIC PIPELINE SEQUENCE WAS THE NUMBER 1 SONG IN THE ISLANDS.
GETTING UP BEFORE SCHOOL TO HIT THALIA STREET & TRAVELING TO SALT CREEK, TRESTLE,S OR HUNTINGTON CLIFFS ON THE WEEKEND,S ,LIVING THE STOKE.
ODDLY I DONT SEE THAT MANY SURFERS IN TODAYS LAGUNA SURF SCENE...PRICED OUT OF THE COMMUNITY.
Fuck you guys i grew up 2008 so-cal dammit
agreed
@@richardconner1283 Agreed on all counts. Good times long gone. Grew up in the Canyon, as a kid usually got stuck in town at Brooks St etc. Rockpiles was my first big wave experience, broke my board hahaha
Gerry and Rory. I grew up in Huntington Beach in the 70s. You guys were my total heroes. While other kids loved the Dodgers or Rams, I loved surfing. Here I am at age 55. Living in the Colorado mtns. And the pull of the ocean, the waves, ...... I'm about to leave Everything and everyone I've known for the last 25 year's of living in the thin air. Because that pull is so strong now that it cannot be denied. Gotta Surf!!! Can you guys give me a job? I'll move anywhere with warm water and waves. The plan is San Diego. But working for Lightning Bolt would Stoke me enough to go just about Anywhere. Bless you guys! Wish me luck and good surf. A Patriot
Back then all surfers in high school in the U.S.A. doodled lightning bolts on their notebooks while day dreaming of surfing. Likely also in Australia, Brazil, Columbia. Those bolts take skill to draw.
Used to doodle ⚡at Durban too, actually was searching for Wilbur Kookmyer comics but found this
I remember walking into a local surf shop at 7-8 yrs old on a beautiful summer day in the mid-70’s and seeing those beautiful shiny Lightning Bolt boards all lined up in the rack.
Thanks soooo much for this terrific video, I rode a 7'2" Swallow Tail myself. Those "Golden" days are and will always be very special to me.
Thank you Tahnei, very nice to get your comment. Mahalo and Peace to you
My first board in 73' was a Bolt and I loved it. The 70's and 80's were great for surfing. Then it became too competitive. But I still found my free ride spiritual mindset. Thanks for the inspiration that changed my life Gerry and Rory. 🙏🏝🏂🌊💙 Love you guys .
Me too. I don't know if it was an original, but I wish I kept it. Stinger Swallow Tail!
THE COOLEST BOARDS EVER MAKE.
Who’s here after Jack’s tweet?
Nice to see Tonny Nellis get some love! And Margo too! Had several Barnfield Bolts from Margo!!
I kept expecting to see Bill pop up in/as one of the 'interviews'.
no leg ropes no media no pro no contests no worries my god that was the best yet as jerry sumed it up we had it good in 70s
It’s Gerry dude
@@holasanja6618 ok but who cares about that, point is it was a giant step forward in modern surfing at that time these guys, and the ozzys , were amongst the best, and changed the whole game to max power, it was very special time to be a true beach bum, 100% surfer.Shit GERRY even came down to oz(1978?) just to surf a desert wave(cactus) he stated was as epic as pipeline but too shark infested haha and vowed never to return because of close call with white pointer NO SHIT
@no dorks should should grow Yeah dude I totally agree with you guys I was mentioning it to that guy to let him know for next time hahaha
@@holasanja6618 haha that guy is me i dont do spell check
No doubt about it,the 70’s were it man! Fun Fun Fun!
The start of Gerry Lopez and Lightning Bolt was when I first started surfing in 1974 at 12 on a Rick's Surfboards, South Bay in LA, 5'5" very wide tail twin fin fish while almost everyone was either on a longboard or a 6'5" or longer single fin pin tail.
Four years later in 1978 at 16 and being a goofy foot my ideal spot was Pipeline. By 78 I had the skills to handle the North Shore, the last 6 months I had been riding a 6'2" Simon Anderson thruster, going from a 6'2" single fin, pin to a three fin opened up performance surfing to me and I had advanced further those six months than the first 3-1/2 years since I started.
Surfing every single day being an El Porto/ Hamerland grom at by far the heaviest wave this side of the Wedge, gave me experience in heavier waves, (I thought) it at least taught me how to hold my breath longer.
The top of my idol list was mainly Gerry for his goofy foot tube riding and then with Australian Pete Townend who had a great style and defied gravity, pulling off the moves I emulated. Later on in the early 80's he moved to California, married a Socal gal and we met one day at trestles and became friends. Until about 2004 we surfed together often or took trips to Mexico and Costa Rica.
I have only talked to him on the phone since 2004. Just like myself, our work, family and age gets in the way of surfing everyday, about once a week is all I can find time to do.
Pete did fill me in on his hui days and for him they were frightening and put a bad light on the people that made it hard just to go out and surf, because fearing the wave at Pipeline was enough to last a lifetime.
This was a great time to surf on the North Shore because it was after the longboard era, but about 5 years before the hui, then it went Kabluwi and I was outta there with my blonde hair an green eyes.
The hui were really nothing but thugs that 99 times out of 100 would attack in force, they were the ass of the donkey and were doing nothing but hunting down the light skinned, light haired surfers even when nothing had happened.
I had 4 great winters on the North Shore until hui-dom ruined the place in the name of anything but Hawaiian kindness. Went back in 1990 and never since.
I read an artical on the North Shore and how the hui may have been the reason for the decline in tourism by 25% to 30% during the 80's and 90's! while today they still have a 4% to 6% affect on tourism.
P&Wengineering I remember Rick boards on 8th and PCH I was ask to surf for them but liked Bing boards better. Later I bought a bolt and moved to Guam. Redondo break wall was or is a great break in the winter.
I agree , the hi did ruin alot of days out surfing. I was also Blonde a sun bleached blonde and a lifeguard on the North Shore out at Mokliea and I problems sometimes at my own beach and break. I think someone told me at the time in the early 80s that the name of the break was call Dave's Star. I had problems with hui until I met Buzzy Kerbox on a flight from Socal to Hawaii . Then Buzzy, MR, Shaun Tompson Simon Anderson started to come out then hui wouldn't be so bad.
My roommate had the red Lighting Bolt log that had thick heaves rails single fin 6'4 . At the time I was surfing a twin fin channel bottom Town and Countryboard that weight half as much as my roommates board.
The hui always wanted to borrow by board be abuse it "looked like one sissy board bra , you should let me see yo board bra, or you like beef already "
I heard those words all the time. But I've seen them take a holeole (can't remember how to spell it) but I've see6the hui break a white boys board but I never gave in.
I would see them a bar called STEAMERS in Haleiwa by a grocery store called IGA. But they would never bother me there.
They just made life hard.
I wonder if all those places have changed?
Not sure why @jack tweeted this, but it’s cool.
Bought my first Lighting Bolt 7'4" pigtail for $250 brand new. My board now hangs on the ceiling at Surf and Sea in Haliewa.
Awesome time capsule of surfing and shaping and the lifestyle. Much appreciated from a Surfer-Shaper-Artist, thanks you for sharing the stories 👍🏾🎨
I COULDN'T AFFORD A LIGHTENING BOLT,BUT I DID OWN A BEN AIPA WING STING SWALLOW.BEST BOARD I EVER OWNED.
My first 3 boards were a Lighting Bolt single fi then a Natural Art single fin and a Town and Country twin fin channel bottom. All 3 I bought in Hawaii. My old roommate from Hawaii still has his Simon Anderson Thruster that he bought used at a little shop on the North Shore back in 1980.
I made a mistake here in my comment. My roommate started out on a red board with the big yellow Lightening Bolt on the bottom with rea thick board then the Simon Anderson Thurster!
Thrusters were not made till 1981.
@@3_too_won ok??
I said in 80, but since I posted this he corrected me and said he bought used in 83.
I don't remember dates! This was a long time ago!
At that time mid seventies we were making our own thrusters with these glue own little fins from Surfboards Hawaii, to go with double winger pins, diamond tails and round pins
I was sent here by non other than Jack Dorsey.
I'm 65 and still hopelessly passionate about surfing as I was when I was 10 and still get out there a few times a week. I never owned one but Lightning Bolt was iconic to me. This was a really GOOD video. Thanks!
Joe B ,me 62, remember the shop in town, rode several boards, straight from shapers ,north shore,mo cheap!! Lightning bolt was da bestest!! Another 1, rip Dick Brewer boards were magical, even going to Pearl city T and C original shop. Craig was another example. Peace westside oahu!
@@MK-su6eg I was living on Kauai then. I remember visiting Oahu one summer and hearing a commercial on the radio that they played all the time that went like this: “The waves are hot! Get your sting wing swallow today!” It was for Ben Aipa’s Sting. Town and Country, I think.
@@joeblow1942 that sounds like it!!, ? Close enough!!! I rode my friends aipa stinger!! He went to chaminade, ala California, where I met in college sd California. Cut backs were insane!! Also rode a malcolm ,Duncan,bros Bonzer, in Newport beach!!! That was the ORIGINAL trip fin,with channeled bottom!!! Fastest 4 sure ! Really lucky to be able 2 experience!!, aloha!!
@@MK-su6eg For years I called it the “Stinger” until Ben Aipa himself corrected me. He was being honored at The Boardroom Show in Del Mar California a few years back and told me it was the “Sting.”🤙🏼🏄♂️
Back in the late 1970's, I owned an orange and red Lightning Bolt surfboard, it was shaped by Dwight Dunn. The thing was 6'8" had 3" hard rails, I was just learning to surf. That board hit me every freakin time I took it out... I don't think it liked being in Huntington Beach waves... only Hawaii lol
Had this pink and blue striped ⚡4 fin that I used to shred Nahoon on circa 1984, then prowl the night spots in a yellow long sleeve T with ⚡ down the arms⚡ jeans, ⚡earing
Surfed a 7 ft 2 in single fin swallow tail red lightning bolt in san diego in 1975. That board actually made a humming noise when it was in the zone.I loved that board.This video lists Bernie Baker as lightning bolt employee,but he actually was a contest winner , I think early on , then photographer. He also was contest judge and now runs upscale hostile in north shore.Stayed there ,it was niiiiice!!
1974 I had a Gerry Lopez autographed surfboard it was 611 it has found into a swallowtail it was blue with a yellow lightning bolt Single Fin I surfed that board at Big Rock San Diego sunset cliffs San Diego k-55 Mexico it was one of the best times of my life
That humming noise may be coming from your fin. Is the glass cracked around the base of the fin? I assume your fin was glassed on, as skeg boxes weren’t in widespread use in 1975.
My Doctor who has retired about 2 years ago due to PARKINSON'S showed me his LIGHTING BOLT SURF BOARD PICTURE.....JERRY made it for him...He doesn't surf..He just layed on it and the Boat pulled him around but he can't even do that now because of the Disease...... JERRY lives in Bend Oregon besides Hawaii...I can't tell you the Docs name but they call him the....LOVING DOC
Please Please Please !! Guys can you get Duke and Gerry to talk again. It needs to happen. The pain is unreal. Help them !!
Thought I was so rad in 1978 with my lightning bolt t-shirt, levis and a self-tattooed lightning bolt logo.
I had a 6' 9" lightning bolt. Best board i ever had. Till it got stolen.
I introduced Jack E. Dunn (Jacky Dunn) to his wife at my pad
I was 12 dad said i wad old enough to surf on my ownr my first lightning bolt board was purchased at mcculley surf shop for $200... 38 yrs later Cheeehuuu...still hitting it...ALOHA for the memories
I'm a 54 year old skater And yes I still skate but it always brings a tear to my eye watching videos of the "good ol days"
Was that a quick shot of Margo Oberg at 5:08? :-O :-)
Lopez always knows how to go with the flow. NICE retrospective, and I would do that period of time over again.
Brings back a lot of memories for me as a grommet in Australia the 80's. Brands like lightning bolt, Crystal Cylinders, MR, Hot Tuna on a backdrop of bush weed bongs, hamburgers and milkshakes. Man I used to get so sun burnt, with just a smear of zinc cream on the nose and lips as protection, would spend literally 8 hrs a day in the ocean if there was waves. Even if there was no swell we'd be snorkelling or fishing. sigh...Now I'm just another middle aged dude working for the man for a wage trying to raise kids.
Cover your mullet with Hot Tuna
Thank you to all the other surfers of the 70's and on. From an Aussie Lighting Bolt was an inspiration . I shaped and glassed my own board at 14. The surf movies took off and we all found a place to go that was and still is and always will be 'a pathway' or meditative experience which helps people grow. The reflection has been very positive.
Thanks for this stoked. I would define LB - through my adolescent eyes - as 'Great, stylish surfers getting barrelled on huge beautiful waves.' My dream.
I'm stuck in Oklahoma and I loved it!
Being from the east coast of central Florida, the volt logo was the best of things doodled on our book covers at school in 1976. We all just loved Gerry Lopez as the best of surfers. None of us had the bolt board, but we sure thought the world of them. And the style that Gerry had was to be copied. Our waves were small in comparison. Except on hurricane days. Oh, how much i miss the days of no worries, just surf. My brothers and their kids have the bolt tattooed on their right shoulders. It was cool then, and now as I think of it. Thanks for the video.
I dreamed about surfing since 20 (we have no ocean in our country). Now I am almost 40 and bought longboard from Gerry Lopez and relocate near ocean. Dreams come true. Let's continue surf 😊
Good for you! Better late than never,
There wasn’t a flat surface that I didn’t draw Bolts on.
Business with friends . Very delicate situation... Money is the route of all bogusness. This is when surfing was just surfing...still nothing beats scoring a great day with just your buds .. money don't buy that
Cool thing is surfing singlefin in those hollow waves
if you drooled at the magazines, this is Gold
Baught a lightning bolt back in 76 rounds pin 7 foot took it to Guam and loved it.
I was blessed to be there, and knew it. Grom from Caly planted on Oahu junior year in H.S. From Jalama Beach to the North Shore in a matter of days....Watched Gerry at Pipe on Wide World of Sports in '73, and months later sitting on the sand watching him and RR tearing it up at first light. Only guys out....that was a time that is just beyond description. Not as many bodies in the world, no WSL, no Volcom House, (think that was Gerry's place actually)......just simple, brutal, straight up goodness....thats gone now, save for us old guys who were there and wouldnt trade it for anything. Thank you Gerry.
The party starts at 4:19 ladies and gentlemen.
Anyone else here from Jack’s tweet
Definitely the icon and soul of the surfing movement. Brings back so many purest feelings. On ya boys
Had a 6’8” sunset, and a 5’8” MTB, and that was my world.
Outstanding documentary. Soul surfing!
I started surfing right at the end of Lightning Bolt. I remember my brother had one. It would be pretty cool to still have. Surfing is about one word. FREEDOM. Aloha to all on this video.
Freedom is what it's about. Those days were the best. Surfing is dead. It was ment for the few, not so many.
But I think we can still slide on a few ... here in the east coast of SA still some uncrowded spots.
God, what a cool post!
I add this comment for what Lightning Bolt meant to myself. It was my 8th grade graduation trip to visit a bro I grew up with down the road from Torrance Beach in CA had moved to Oahu with his family. 13 years old heading to Oahu to see Jeff and go to to the Bolt shop on Kapiolani Blvd and buy a board at Lightening Bolt for my summer of surfing on Oahu. Gerry was the pipe masters champ and as we went into the shop there in the back was Gerry Lopez a boyhood hero talking to two babes in Bikinis. I remember it was a 6'7" round/squash tail orange with a red Lightning Bolt. I forked out the $70 cash and my dream summer began. I'd been surfing for a year or so but that few months with my Bolt was instrumental in igniting my surfing lifestyle and one with Gerry in the shop and walking out with the board I've never forgotten 48 years later. Thank You Gerry....PS I also saw 5 summer stories on Oahu that summer :)
FUN FACT,THE BAND THAT PLAYED THE SOUNDTRACK FOR 5 SUMMER'S STORIES,HONK WAS PLAYING AT A MAMMOTH MTN CALIF VENUE CIRCA 1977.
THEIR GUITARIST HAD A LITTLE TOO MUCH TO DRINK.ERIC CLAPTON WAS IN THE AUDIENCE & HAD HEARD THAT ALBUM ONCE.
AFTER THE BANDS SHORT BREAK,HE GOT UP ON STAGE & FINISHED THEIR SET PLAYING AT THE END, PIPELINE SEQUENCE.
HIWS THAT FOR CACHE.?
Stepson's account. In the fall of 1971 I worked trimming Brussel Sprouts at Green Giant in Watsonville on swing shift after going to school all day at Cabrillo College in Aptos. My dream was to get to the North Shore. I went to the Haut surf shop on 41st Ave at the time and wanted a board for Hawaii. It wasn't Doug who had sold me a board earlier, but this guy told me not to waste my time with a California shaped board and to go to the Lightening Bolt shop in Honolulu and tell them that he sent me and ask for a discount. I did just that and the guy at the counter said sure, 10 bucks off any board in the shop. There was this green Lightening Bolt board, semi gun, 7'4" that spoke to me. Big white bolt on the deck and a red fin it had chined rails and was a pintail shaped not by Gerry but by Wayne Santos. I put a deposit down and came back the next day with cash. Another guy was at the counter and he just bitched and complained that I was getting a discount on a Wayne Santos but he honored the sale. $105 bucks. Best board I ever owned. The red fin came in handy one day when I lost it into the rip at Leftovers. A green board is the worse to spot floating out to see but there was that red fin like a flag. I was able to find a place on the North Shore and spent the winter and spring of 72 surfing there. I met the guy who glassed my board as I had reshaped a board and took it to him to get glassed and he had all these Lightening Bolt boards ready to be glassed in his tiny shop. It really was a consortium of shapers and glassers working for Gerry from their backyards. They all told me the same thing. Don't go to the shop again and buy direct from them. If Gerry only knew (but probably did) that was the grapevine of the North Shore. I still view it as the best purchase of my life. I generally surfed south of Wiamea but my board was ridden by a young local at the Bay and my roommate took it out into 8 to 10 Pipe. In that area my favorite was Off The Wall and the beach breaks at Eukai when they were working. Ah the days of sitting on the beach at the Pipe and watching Gerry and Tom Stone master the place. It was the first time in my life I got to see and even ride movie quality waves. I owned one pair of cords, a few tee shirts, one Aloha shirt, flip flops, and trunks from H.Mura's store in Haleiwa. I was 19, no car and a bike I found in a cane field south of Haleiwa. $42 a month for rent. Had to leave when my money ran out and the coming summer sun was already making my nose hamburger. Took the board with me even though everyone said they wouldn't work in California. Most didn't know that much about the waves north of Santa Cruz at the time. and the winter beach break at Moss Landing. It worked fine until The Lane ate it.
So Rad My best friend Carson Christ R.I.P. and I spent a lot of time with tommy he was like a dad to us.Tommy’s no bullshit attitude is classic still going strong ya tommy
Being from the east coast of central Florida, the volt logo was the best of things doodled on our book covers at school in 1976. We all just loved Gerry Lopez as the best of surfers. None of us had the bolt board, but we sure thought the world of them. And the style that Gerry had was to be copied. Our waves were small in comparison. Except on hurricane days. Oh, how much i miss the days of no worries, just surf. My brothers and their kids have the bolt tattooed on their right shoulders. It was cool then, and now as I think of it. Thanks for the video.
1980 got a lightning bolt necklace I think at miller’s outpost in the south bay ..super stoked to wear it for picture day at school at the time OP was cool but I always kinda thought lightning bolt cooler cause of Gerry Lopez
What does Lightning Bolt mean to me? Pee Chee's, Book Covers, Lockers, Desks....anything that a bored surfkid could scribble on had a Bolt on it at every Jr. High School within a 10 mile distance of the Southern Californian coastline back then. Gerry's right. You guys got it best!!!
8:54.......Bad Advertisement for Lighting Bolt...Notice the Board on the Hood of the Car is BROKEN.....
I rode a couple of bolts back in the mid 70's. Both were excellent boards.
Did you have a shop in Newport beach
No. I was just a HS kid in Hawaii. @@willywombat2087
I bought a bolt board in Newport cali your last name sounds familiar thanks
I was a grommet in those days and had the posters on my wall they were our heroes I would skip school all the time to surf .I would walk (as no boards on bus rule) the 2kns with my board 6'.10 to go for the early, surf what ever there was on offer with hardy any crowds. My how times have changes now there is a crowd no matter what sort of dribble is on offer. Moved from the city to find a home with surf next to the beach. but the crowds have caught up as surfing became main stream back then it was looked down on to be a surfer by the main steam society i guess part of the reason was not conforming and the drugs to some degree but surfing was and is still my drug LOL .Still love surfing Still living the dream just with more people Gerry said it so well at the end We had it best. Thank you to Lighting Bolt crew. Great information in this documentary I always did wonder what happened to the brand.
Time marches on.... I feel so blessed that I learned to surf in the early 80s on a very small S. Atlantic Island 2 consistently rideable breaks never more then 8 guys on the whole island that surfed still good friends with them still surf on occasion but cant deal with crowds in Fl....No regrets!
Gerry Lopez.....I was the Loving DOC'S (D.S.) Last Patient a few years ago at the Center....He Showed me a Pic. Of the Board you made for Him.....Tell him hello for me if you see him....My last name is Little...I'm in Sisters.
Papa's had two great Eberly's... ride so good.
My firsts board I ever road was 7’8 lightning bolt that my good friend Eddie Curtis took me out Thanksgiving morning 1985 O’side beach break about 5-7’. I thought I was going to die! But I was hooked it ruined my martial arts career. 😂✌🏻
Thanks jack dorsey
Bobby Owens Legend at Pipe
His was actually called Mister Sunset.
I used to to love the Lightning Bolt necklaces they put out. But I heard a rumor that that wasn't the only thing they shipped in that box.
Wawawawhat ? Are you saying my Hero jerry Lopez was a tripper ???? No way man 😂
The Best Surfing Doc. Thanks so much for doing this. I remember as a kid, before moving to Hawaii, of wearing Bolt T-shirts and drawing the logo on everything I owned. I remember the test/font of "Lightning Bolt" was the hardest to do. I grew up and read every surfing and surfer mag I could get, multiple times. I idolized all those guys.
I remember, once I moved over there and my first couple of paddle outs, seeing all my surfing idols in the water. I couldn't believe it. Being in the water with Bobby, Micheal, Mark, Dane etc.
I often wondered what happened to BOLT. Now we know. Thanks again Tahnei.
Who remembers Bosco Burns?
Back in the 70s I bought a bolt and surfed in in Guam. What an amazing board. My friend Rick loved him and I used call him Rick bolt .
Tom eberly great shaper and super nice guy much respect to the true surfing world 70 years 80 best ever not flashy just fucking pure surfing
Use to go in back of Ala Moana shopping center after sufing as a kid checking out the surfboards and pics of Rory and Jerry those were the days no job needed Just go surf .
He works at Turtle Bay and I've seen Buzzy Kerbox hanging at the rental shop. Pretty cool.
I had that ⚡️ chain necklace in late 70’s🤘
Me too👍
Thanks guys whatever happened, my first surfboard, awesome, still have it today.
i remember your Dad a full on charger !
Asome video flashed me back to the early 80s when the surfing bug bit me.
Started surfing with a 6'8 look alike bolt board. Those mags were so inspiring...
Aloha from Perú
CLASS!
OH RIGHT, Bolt wasn't "into" the sommericalization of surfing, take another snort!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was there back then...lived in Eva Beach in high school - remember watching Gerry and Rory at Pipe at sunrise with only the two of them out...fast forward to afternoon and one of those waves turned into a full page spread in Surfer mag. THEM were the fucking days!
I’m 57 now and I grew up in mission beach Ca, I started surfing in 73 and Jerry Lopez was my guy and to this day still is and everyone else associated with him. The 70’s was the most soulful time, with local shaper skip Frye and others......I’m so appreciative for this story being told for people to understand that our souls are the key to everything period!
I surf mission beach too!!! All the way to the jetty!!! 1977 to 83. Breakfast at MR Ds !!! Love it!!! Skates, bikes, bikinis beers and 91 X!!! Aloha!!! Back home westside oahu! I bet we surf together at mission beach.....still got my Caster single fin round pin, and a TDK thruster from sandeigo ca. named shaper ??. Tod kaminski???? memory loss 1980s. Any way!
First board I ever had at 10 yrs old in 1984 was a lightning bolt 👍✌🇺🇸
Os. Im 53yrs old. Lightnight bolt. Gerry lopezt. Hawaii. Pipe. Thats my memories. 13yrs old.
ANYBODY?
What was the name of that Surf flick in 1974/5 ?
Where Jerry or Rory is side slipping down on a Red Lightening Bolt ?
that massive Blue Pipeline barrel in SLO motion.......over & over to...
"I hear My Train A Coming" ..........by Jimi Hendrix.????
It was the movie that made me start surfing the Summer of 1975.
I've been looking for that movie ever since.
My mother owned a bookstore The Fourth Dimension at 1477 Kapiolani Blvd, two stores Ewa from Lightning Bolt shop. I'd go there after school and try to hang out. haha. My 1st board Cost $95 Davey
Smith 5"9", Which included a twenty dollar trade in with a perfect condition Greg Noll tanker( Which would have been very valuable today20 bucks Back then). I had to mow lawns all summer ,as my father refused to just go and buy it for me which in hindsight was good on him. I was 11 and 12 years old ,I've been surfing since I was 6 or 7. It was like an art gallery Inside lightning bolt with all these incredible Hand shaped surfboards. Also of interest, 1 long block Walk Diamond head direction was Country Surfboards With Dick Brewer And I think Ed Serfaus
I think being a shaper was great 👍 if U were a Surfer too. A perfect life. U just wanted to do it the rest of your life. (of course)
In Peru a kid in Lima, I was fixing Dings.....& was my Xtra $$ for the week........nice..!
We had 1 Lightning Board brand new in our Town. All yellow.....& belong to "Tato Vial".
The day Mr Gerry Lopez came for the International in Punta Rocas........we went South like 20 of us....to San Bartolo in 1 bdm all of us...lol.....was near Punta Rocas......& early morning we were all hitchhiking to watch the Event.....also Larry Bertleman, Jim Blear, Jeff Hackman (won)
Waves got real big the whole tournament.
It was in our Summer 1974. JAN or Feb. And to end story....Gerry didn't get too many good waves, still he did showed us his style.... but in one...he felt & rode the wave with his chest. Wave size was about 12'..(easy).... gave us a real Class... it was incredible.....& here he was unleashed.
Hackman caught a huge barrel.....that lasted good 5 seconds inside That was the winner of the event.
I ran away from home to Maui when I was 17 in1975. And in my quiver my prized possession was a 7'6 Tom Parrish Lightning Bolt gun.
As a surfer from New Jersey in the 60s 70s and early 80s I served a lot of boards served a lot of waves and it’s the greatest sport that God has allowed us to invent and protect us most of the time as we do this sport thank you for your channel and it was nothing but a pleasure looking at some of your clips God bless you jersey kid Alex
Great! Thank you. Good vibes from Brazil.
I have this exact board signed by him and my dad got it 40 years ago.... Still flies
Had a necklace with a bolt on it when I was a kid...seemed cool at the time.