LIGHTNING BOLT: A PURE SOURCE ON TOUR

 

A unique opportunity to meet two Legends of Lightning Bolt, with surfing films session, conversation, and much more.
We will be hosting Lightning Bolt surf legends Rory Russell and Craig Hollingsworth.
The funds raised will benefit Surfrider Foundation Europe.

 

Rider: Mikey Ronge
Credits: Matt Wessen Hollingsworth Surfboards

 

About Lightning Bolt

Rumors swirl about the origin of the Lightning Bolt Logo. Some say the Bolt was a graphic metaphor for a particularly strong strain of marijuana circulating the Hawaiian Islands in the late 1960s. Company co-founder Gerry Lopez fouls that off: “IT WAS ABOUT THE ENERGY.”

In 60s and into the 70s, Hawaiian surfers were energized by the Shortboard Revolution. Nat Young shook up the world with his “Total Involvement” surfing, taking his foot off the nose and on the tail of surfboards that were evolving shorter, lighter and faster by the season. In Hawaii, that meant mini-guns – light, narrow-backed pintails that were a universe away from the 10-foot elephant guns of the mid-1960s. Mini-guns allowed surfers to boldly go where no surfers had gone before – deeper, faster, higher and lower: Deep into the gizzards of Pipeline, up high in the lip at Sunset, right into the Backdoor at Pipeline.

 
 

And then there was Gerry Lopez. Standing 5' 8" and weighing maybe 135 pounds, Lopez came flying out of the late 60s and into the 1970s, engulfed in Pipeline spit, standing limp in the eye of the storm, making something very difficult look like a cakewalk. Lopez was the picture of cool and calm surfing The Pipeline when surfers were taking their sport back and taking it underground. The world was mesmerized by a man who matched Pipeline’s power and beauty with grace. Lopez’ fast-twitch, German/Japanese physiology was part of the act, but what was under his feet was also important.

Lopez needed surfboards that were as lithe, quick and fast as he was - so around 1970, Lopez teamed up with experienced Surf Line Hawaii store manager Jack Shipley to form an elite boutique for Hawaii’s best surfer/shapers. The symbol was the Lightning Bolt and the symbol meant energy – the energy of Hawaiian surf, but also the energy of human physicality and artistry to make the surfboards to ride that energy deeper, faster and more radical.

Gerry, BK, Reno, Rory and Tom Parrish, regarded as the most influential shapers in the Lightning Bolt stable, were surfers who mattered, making surfboards that mattered, for surfers that mattered.

And the result was energy. Gerry Lopez and Rory Russell dropping in at Pipeline or Barry Kanaiaupuni’s power-hula through the bowl at Sunset: The Lightning Bolt logo thundered throughout Hawaii, and then resonated across the Pacific and around the world – a combination of sincere talent, perfect timing and clever marketing of a needed product.

 

Credits: Craig Hollingsworth Surfboards

 

Beautiful, finely-crafted Hawaiian guns were at the foundation of Lightning Bolt. This was a strikingly new era in surfing that was changing fast and dramatic. In free surfs and in competition – like the newfangled Pipeline Masters contest that began with a card table and a megaphone in 1971 – surfers and surfboards were evolving incredibly fast, and as the calendar clicked through the months and seasons of the early 1970s, Lightning Bolt became ubiquitous.

THE MARKETING STRATEGY WAS PRETTY SIMPLE: IF A SURFER WAS HOT, PUT A BOLT UNDER THEIR FEET & A QUIVER ON THEIR CAR.

A simple strategy that worked. Within the first half of the decade, the Lightning Bolt logo was ubiquitous in ads, magazine editorials and especially on the big screen.

Not everyone had the time and money to travel to Hawaii and buy a bolt, or the skill to take over at Pipeline, Sunset and Waimea Bay. Lightning Bolt was a surfboard company first and last, but in the mid ‘70s the company moved into clothing: practical trunks for surfing and t-shirts for cruising. 

But the world wanted that Bolt energy, and the clothing line exploded like a spitting wave at the Pipeline.

This newfound confidence allowed them to open up a style of surfing that became synonymous with the Lightning Bolt label they crafted under…

Steeply angled drops into massive barrels pushed them closer to the most dynamic aspects of the breaking wave. What they found amounts simply to… A Pure Source.

 

Rider: Gege Brasset
Credits: Matt Wessen with Hollingsworth Surfboards

 

A PURE SOURCE ON TOUR IN BIARRITZ

 Date: May 18th, from 3pm

Where: Shaper House

 
 

PROGRAMM:

-MEET: meet the two legendary shapers, Rory Russell and Craig Hollingsworth:

  • RORY RUSSELL - the world renowned big wave rider and living legend, two-time champion of the Pipeline Masters, tuberiding specialist from the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii

  • CRAIG HOLLINGSWORTH – veteran shaper and manufacturer of surfboards born and raised in Southern California, and a world class surfer himself, shaping Lightning Bolt surfboards for more than 20 years

-LIVE SHAPE by the Legends

 
 

-SURF FILMS SCREENINGS - Nausicaa – We Own The Ocean / Thank You Mother / Surfrider Foundation Europe Short Video / Lightning Bolt Short Video

“THANK YOU MOTHER” - A Journey of Appreciation is the new surfing film by Torren Martyn and Ishka Folkwell, narrated by Morning of the Earth’s creator Alby Falzon and with an original soundtrack by Nick Bampton.

A cinematic journey of surfing, simplicity and appreciation. As Torren Martyn glides with style and power, carving beautiful lines into clean walls, Nick Bamptons original music echoes the mood and rhythm of his movements perfectly.

“NAUSICAA” - We Own the Ocean is a BLOCK10 production, directed and filmed by Luca Merli

A  journey in search of adventures, unexplored shores, empty waves in the Mediterranean most secluded places. A surf-film about our small Ocean, the cradle of civilization and a reflection on living a simple lifestyle in symbiosis with nature. 

 
 

-SURF TALKS

-SURF ART by Anthony Faucheux – XLR8 - http://www.xlr8.fr/

 -SURFBOARDS CONTEST – 2 authentic Lightning Bolt Surfboards shaped by Rory and Craig

-BENEFITTING SURFRIDER FOUNDATION EUROPE – funds raised with raffles will benefit this foundation

 
lb_tour_insta_france_04.jpg
 

Partners: Shaper House, XLR-8, Wollbeer, Vietmeup, Anthony Faucheux, Block10, Need Essentials, Thank You Mother // Media Partners: Saltwater, Surf Session, Surf Report, Beach Brother

 

 

 

 

 






 
SALT WATERComment