The board will be a 7’ 6’’ x 20’', rounded pin(or diamond tail) low railer, with a gently beaked nose. The fin will be a glass fin, solid mounted in a fiberglass molded box. Said box is unique to the first 18 boards I made for LightningBolt, in Feb. 1971. Most of those first 18 boards were diamond tails, as that was the ‘‘fashion of the day.’’ I think the rounded pin was more attractive. That original group of boards had no decals. Only the now familiar lightning bolt graphic, top and bottom in yellow resin, as it was done on all the originals. I still have those original templates, and the tooling, for the fin box. This is the only one of these I will ever make. I’ll probably limit myself to shorter boards (sub 7 foot) in the future. To steal a line from the film, Lethal Weapon, ‘‘I’m too old for this shit.’’ Other than chambered stringer full on big wave guns, I consider this board to be the most collectable surfboard I could ever make. I’m the guy that drew out the templates, and the guy that created the lightning bolt graphic, that became such a part of surfing lore. Hard to believe all that was almost 48 years ago. Time flies, eh? If you are interested in this project, contact me by PM.
Looking forward to seeing this project come to life.
If I could afford a Bill Thrailkill replica Bolt I would buy one.
Me too!
What happened to the “Dos Puercos”? Can we GoPro the build? Seriously. Would be cool to see such a legend mowin’ foam. I’m sure local followers would like to see this project documented and pick up a few tips along the way.
Dis his historikal significantz. i’d loved to sea dem vidoes.
I thought Jim Ellington (he is a sheper in san deigo) did da fist ligntn bolt?
You’ve got be kidding ! Does he also claim to to be the first guy to ride Waimea? I’d love to have a conversation about it, with the fellow. Perhaps you could arrange it, eh? Jack Shipley knows it was me. Gerry Lopez knows it was me. Randy Rarick knows it was me. They were some of the ground floor crew, at the start of the brand.
for the love of shaping, Bill, will you please post some pictures? A video? Either you or one of your tech savvy buddies could do it.
All the best
Ditto. Yes let’s see it. I’m sure it would be educational. Am I assuming then that you were first to ride Waimea’? Among many other things of course.
Harry Schurch
No, in the modern era,(Nov.1957), that was Harry Schurch. Greg Noll’s claims to the contrary. As for Waimea, I’ve ridden it on boards that I designed and built, on 25 foot plus waves, in conditions that Buzzy described as ‘‘The biggest Waimea can be ridden, before it closes out.’’ Photo’s to prove it.
I would think pictures of you riding 25’ Waimea would be EPIC! Can you post ‘em?
I would just like to see a documented build with some photos during construction and of completed board. Numerous builds have been mentioned, but that was the first and last thing I’ve seen of them. I’m a fan of yours Bill, but frustrated that there isn’t much meat to the posts announcing builds.
Aloha Phebus,
When I start to shape a board I enter what I call ‘‘the zone’’, a state of concentration/visualation, and focus. I just don’t stop to take photo’s, and try not to break concentration. I’m sure the process is different for each person. I do not do my own glassing, and in the case of this board, I’m having it done in epoxy, with a PU core. By the same glasser that did the 5’ 8’’ BroomTail, that I recently made for my nephew. He does impressive work. I don’t even have the blank yet, and I’m already leaning toward keeping the board myself. I have the distinction of knowing just how special this board will be. Will I ever surf it? Nope. I hope someone does, some day. But, it won’t be me.
This is an UPDATE of this intended project. This board, that I intended for me, ended up going into the hands of Bird Huffman, In the past two years plus, I’ve been somewhat distracted from surfboard things , to deal with what I’m told is a very agressive prostate cancer. But, I still intend to revisit that board design, and make a faithful copy at 7’ 6’’ x 20’’ wide. As to documenting the build, there are no secret techniques to be revealed, only normal shaping proceedures, that most of you already use. The only meaningful part of this project, will be the finished result. I’m finishing up a series of radiation treatments, and will soon after (about 3 weeks out) get another blank and get busy. Later on I’ll post some rocker dimensions, thicknesses, and ratio/proportions. This is a board design that I believe is at the core of what I consider to be the true golden age of surfing.
For those of you that may want to ‘‘build along’’ the blank to use for the 7’6’’ x 20 ‘’ mini gun, is the U S Blanks 8’5’'A, gun blank, with the natural rocker. To isolate the appropriate rocker segment you cut 7 inches off the nose, and 4 inches off the tail. The reason is to have a totally relaxed stringer, and foam, without any inner tension acting up in the shaping process. My blank will have a 1/4th inch Bass stringer. More to come later. Meanwhile, study the blank in the catalog, to get a sense of where the finished board will spring from.
Jeez, Bill, take care of yourself. We can wait.
hang in…
doc…
Well, if I may, I saw Bill do a bit of shaping and his approach was unlike anything I have seen. There may be a few out there that can shape a 7-6 out of an 8-4 gun blank and get it perfect. But, just a few. Just say’n. Mike
A " Shape Along" would be truly visual with pics, video or illustrations. Otherwise each board is merely an interpretation of something seen by each individuals “Minds Eye”.
Thanks for sharing the blank info. Details like those really help those of us that arent all that experienced yet.
Also what type of stringer and width from US blanks would show up as nice a dark " period correct"?
And good luck with your battle too.
1/8th inch, or 1/4th inch Redwood
EDIT: 1/8th inch for California…1/4th inch for Hawaii Back in the day, 1/8th Spruce was used for larger waves. Today, Basswood is preferred. (by me)