Just perfect
Fin-aly! I rode it all second half of winter on the North Shore. The fastest board I’ve EVER ridden, stepping on the bolt is like a gas pedal! I beat massive whitewater sections I’ve never outran down the line before! Had 15-20 great sessions on it so far. Absolutely the finest board I’ve ever owned, and full of serious MOJO!
very nice - how did he get the crisp white look on the deck, from that yellowed foam?
Huck it looks very nice.
Looks like a new blank!
Kind regards,
surfding
The deck had its repairs made, and I’m guessing it was dusted with an airbrush. Hard to see in the pix, but the deck is an ice blue color. Thanks guys, yeah it’s pretty amazing the job that was done. Wouldn’t have believed it was my board had I not seen most the process it took! Rarick is a master at his craft!
Kenny that fin is the same template I had on a 78 Brewer shaped by SAMMY HAWK.
Very nice restore.
Looks like you have a piece of history!
Kind regards,
surfding
Such a great thread …thank you for sharing, really enjoyed the story of the resto.
WOW this looks so great! I am usually highly suspicious of retro / old board / collectability etc but this baby is badass, prolly goes like a bat out of hell too - those shapes were lightning bolts in more ways than one…
Thanks yeah it sure does go! I’m not really a collector I guess, seems that way though- the amount of old boards I’ve gotten ahold of one way or another. I ride them all. I figure that’s why they were made. And it sure keeps surfing fun and exciting! The cost of a restoration by Mr Rarick is alot more affordable than I, and everyone else thought. About the same as a new custom, handmade board, by a top tier shaper. The board had so much mojo already, history and stories, it was worth every penny. And the moment I waxed it up, paddled it out and caught the first wave on it after a 30 yer dry dock, made me smile ear to ear!
You have right kind of stoke!
Enjoy the history!
I haven’t seen too many old swallow tails that haven’t been totally mashed up and broken. This is in nice condition, and I love the shape!
I want it BADLY, but we are at board capacity levels in the small apartment! I even had to get a locker for my 11 foot Cippy board in Waikiki- I have trouble sleeping at night believe me, it’s alot of trust in humanity to leave one of your treasured boards where anyone can walk right up and touch!
That is a Beautiful looking Bolt. What is The Bid price on That? I have not seen it on eBay?
Opening at $650.00. Search “lightning bolt surfboard” and it should come up
I was searching for info about the Sunset Beach Store and gas station and I stumbled onto this web site by accident. Can someone explain what it is? This is about Bill Stonebraker???
I grew up in Inglewood and Torrance (L.A. area) in the 1960s and 70s. My dad's best friend was a guy called Bill Gretum, and Bill had a daughter called Danita, and Danita was (and still is) Bill Stonebraker's wife. When I was old enough to travel to Hawaii without my parents I remember hitch hiking from Honolulu airport to Sunset Beach in December of 1969 and all I had was my surfboard, my back pack, and about $50. I remember knocking on Bill Stonebraker's door on Huelo Street, Sunset Beach, North Shore, and even though he didn't know me he let me and my friend stay in a pup tent on his front lawn for 3 weeks. There was a very big swell that year. I remember fire trucks coming in the night.
The Stonebrakers didn't know we were coming, but they were very gracious and they fed us, drove us around, and Bill took us to his favorite surf spots. Next door to Bill was a house full of Orange County surfers. One of them was Corky Carroll. The other surfers in the area knew we were staying at Bill Stonebraker's house, they saw us arrive at various North Shore surf spots in Bill's VW van, and they saw us hanging out with guys like Bill and Corky (including playing guitar with him) and that gave us a kind of surf star status by proxy that you don't get if you drive up to Pipeline in a Hertz rental car! I mean here we were, just ordinary kids, and we're hanging out with legends. Now that was a surf trip! During those 3 weeks everyone stopped by to see Bill at one point or another: Greg MacGillivray, Bill Hamilton, Steve Wilkings (the surfer magazine photographer)… You'd see Gerry, Barry, Hakman, Fred Hemmings, walking past the driveway and waving… even Greg Noll came by for a couple days.
The Stonebrakers invited me back for the next winter and this became an annual tradition for me and a few friends all through high school and college. In the summers the Stonebrakers traded houses with my family. We would go to Sunset Beach and stay in their house and drive their car, and they would come to Torrance and stay in our house and drive our car. It was like having a free vacation. Way better than staying at Hilton Hawaiian Village!
Anyway, I hadn't thought about this for a long time and I hope it wasn't boring for you… I hope it's not innappropriate for your discussion.
BTW I have a yellow 1971 Stonebraker lightning bolt pin tail, about 8' as I recall. It's in someone's garage - a friend, or brother, or something. If I can find it I'll make pictures and show you.
This is what swaylocks is all about! Thanks for sharing. Hope you find the board!
I haven't found the Stonebraker board, but I did find an old picture of it. Obviously it's the one with the lightning bolt. This picture was taken in 1974. I brought the board home from Hawaii about 3 years earlier. So it's pretty beat up at this point, and sorry, the sticker is on the other side.
In 1974 I was in my surf bum phase when I was in college at Univ of Calif. Later on I became a software engineer at Apple. My friend in the picture went on to become a plastic surgeon and he still shapes his own boards. He says shaping a board is just like shaping a human body.
That looks like a legit logo to me. I also bought a 7’6” Stonebreaker with the same logo in 71 at the lightning Bolt shop on Kapiolani. Diamond tail, hard down rails, red and yellow deck, blue bottom, single deep fin. Got some great rides on that board. They let me make payments on the $125 price for 6 weeks! The day I finally made the last payment, Diamond Head was going off 10-12 foot faces, so as I was running out the back door with my new stick under my arm, one of my flip flops caught a parking curb and I went flying!, without hesitation I did a roll, landed on my back and saved the board. My back was kind of scraped but I earned a “Geeve ‘em, Brah!” cheer from Jerry Lopez, Jeff Hackman and Mike Shipley! Got to the overlook, scrambled down the cliff and had some fun.
Jack Shipley, perhaps?