A PURE SOURCE OF COSMIC ENERGY
You’ve seen a Lightning Bolt surfboard before.
The most obvious image that comes to mind is a young Gerry Lopez standing with an incomprehensible amount of nonchalance while dancing with the lion that is Pipeline. But there’s a chance you’ve also seen a photo of legends like Ian Cairns, Reno Abellira, Barry Kanaiaupuni, Rabbit Bartho- lomew, Shaun Tomson or Rory Russell riding one.
Lightning Bolt boards are iconic, and surfing wouldn’t be where it is today without them.
The brand was born on the North Shore around 1970, when Gerry Lopez and friends assembled a crew of Hawaii’s best shapers to build some innovative boards. This was a criti-cal time in surfing. Everything was changing, and fast. Big, old-school guns were giving way to shorter, more fine-tuned boards that allowed you to approach surfing differently.Think: Big turns at Sunset or deeper tubes at Pipeline. More emphasis was put on how you rode a wave and it felt like surfing became more of an art form overnight.
Lightning Bolt helped surfers draw those bold new lines.
There’s an old rumor that the brand was named after a par- ticular strain of marijuana that was popular at that time. Makes sense. North Shore. The 1970s. This was an epicenter of counter-culture and, let’s be honest, pretty much everybo- dy was getting stoned.
However, this is just a rumor.
The truth is that Lightning Bolt symbolized energy – the en- ergy of Hawaiian surf, but also the energy of human physi- cality and artistry to make the surfboards to ride that energy deeper, faster and more radically.
Energy like that doesn’t just fade away. Lightning Bolt’s col- lective of shapers has evolved over the years, but the logo — and the spirit — remained the same.
The brand is alive and well, and in a very authentic way. Guys like Gerry and Rory are still hand-shaping boards for the Bolt, which is truly incredible, and the brand also offers asmall collection of clothes.
Surfing, in its truest form, is a way life rather than just ano- ther sport — that’s been Lightning Bolt’s philosophy since Day 1. It’s a timeless, genuine perspective and it explains why the brand has remained unadulterated and true to the core.
We just want to thank them for being a pure source of energy after all these years.
Patagonia’s new film, Foam Dust – 25 Years of FCD, thumbs through the archives of FCD Surfboards. It looks back at the characters who embarked on an experimental journey in surfboard material and design—building boards that leave the least amount of environmental harm.