Lightning Bolt Maui

In the heat of the shortboard revolution, the summer of 1972, young surf phenomenon Gerry Lopez and Jack Shipley realized the old established shops were buried under inventories of boards that were obsolete. They decided to open their own surfboard shop dedicated to the leading edge of surfing–and Lightning Bolt was born. Gerry Lopez and Rory Russell ruled pipeline on Lightning Bolt surfboards, and the striking logo soon appeared, shredding waves in magazines everywhere.

Also in the summer of ‘72 Jack’s friend Nino Baltar came to Maui and opened Lightning Bolt Maui in the same building the shop is in today. In 1974 Gerry Lopez came to Maui and took over, shaping the boards and running the shop. Lightning Bolt became the hangout for surfers throughout Maui–it was Maui’s only surf shop and naturally it’s now the oldest shop on Maui.

The walls are covered in history. If you’re a surfer and you visit Maui, you’ll enjoy a visit if only just to look at the collection of vintage surfboards. Today they maintain the tradition of shaping boards at the forefront of surf evolution, including Standup Paddle Boards. They sell production, custom and semi custom boards from a variety of shapers including Tom Parrish, Bill Foote, Bill Hamilton, Tom Nellis, Danny Nichols, Steve Walden, Ed Angulo, Lloyd Ishimine, Joey Goette and John Nack.

Besides boards, accessories, surf gear, stickies, and ancillary stuff the shop also offers rental equipment.