The New Old Lightning Bolt

Lightning Bolt is Maui’s original surf shop. It was started in 1972 by Gerry Lopez and Jack Shipley. Lightning bolt boards are seen everywhere in the surf movies of the 70′s with surfers like Gerry Lopez and Rory Russell ruling Pipeline on Lightning Bolt boards, and the revolutionary Australian surfers like Rabbit Bartholomew, Peter Townend, Shawn Tomson, Mark Richards, and Ian Cairns ripping up the North Shore and getting Lightning Bolt boards plastered on the cover of every surf magazine.

The new lightning bolt store in Paia–so new the sign is a banner

Calling a business the “oldest” or “the original” sometimes means a company that’s resting on it’s laurels, or whose time is past. That’s certainly NOT the case with Lightning Bolt. Some of the most aggressive short, long and SUP boards come from this historic shop. Lightning Bolt uses the latest computer controlled shaping technology to enable semi-custom boards tailored to your weight, skill, and surfing style. They also build beautiful boards. That old Lightning Bolt logo looks wonderful on a brightly colored board.

You can see a lightning bolt board in the surf from an airplane–they stand out

Lightning Bolt recently moved, from the original location–which was way off the beaten path in Kahalui–to the heart of Paia. the shop is still a little hard to spot because the permanent signage isn’t up yet. But this place is worth the effort to find.

the store is small, but it’s full of great merchandise

The famous Lightning Bolt logo looks great on a board, t shirt, hoodie, hat–whatever

Besides boards, paddles, leashes and other surf accessories lightning bolt has it’s own line of clothing featuring the famous lightning bolt logo. They also carry a full line of surf and beachwear.

All the usual surf/beachwear brands as well

Stickies, wax, surf watches–its a very complete surf shop, but with an emphasis on real equipment

The digital projector on the ceiling is for the friday night movies–Frank is serious about his movie nights.

On Friday nights they clear the floor and show surf movies on a big screen–free. You can grab a pizza at Flatbread and a six pack from the Wine Corner and enjoy a great evening.

Any serious surfer visiting Maui is going to pass through Paia. You should definitely make Lightning Bolt part of that pilgrimage.