Team Bolt- Bill Barnsfeild Lightning Bolt twin fin.

It is my aim to ride every one of my vintage boards in the similar conditions for which they were designed, to gauge it performance and validity of the design. To see if the course of the evolution of surfboard design had left a diamond in the margins of history and to keep my surfing FUN.

There would be no point, for instance in test riding a vintage Lopez gun pipeline gun in a 3 foot beach break as the inevitable outcome come would be the assumption that the board is slow and stiff. Put it through a mach 3 bottom turn at a ledging overhead reef break and the judgement would be entirely different.

It is with this in mind that that I have long fantasized about riding my 5'10" Bill Barnsfeild shaped Hawaiian Lightning Bolt single fly swallow tail twin fin at solid Voodoo, since seeing what I remember as Richard Cram riding similar board (same actual board??) on the same left hand reef in the short lived defunct Australian surf magazine 'SURF'. Compared to the other twin fins in the collection the board is very thin and flat with hardly any rocker. I imagine that this is on purpose and the lack of volume would allow the board to hang on in powerful conditions, the racked but fins, shaped just so to mange extreme power and speed, the subtle rocker designed for going flat out.

The day came when Voodoo was doing its thing. Modern logic would dictate  that I should be riding my 6'8" rounded pin tail semi gun but NO. If Crammy could handle voodoo on a 5'10" twin fin than out of respect for the legend I to should have to try to do the same.

A this point I want to quote the beached whale rescuing George Constanza when he said 'the ocean was angry that day my friend'. But it was OK, just nice solid long period south swell, light east nor east winds and a low tide.

I got out there and learned my first lesson. No 5'10" likes a big, sucking, ledging take off.

The picture is amazing to me because it shows the board and my whole body suspended in the lip like a mosquito in amber.

I made a few, got dropped in on by a donkey on a SUP and did a few turns.

Frankly I found the board skittish and unstable and I the whole experience, after getting worked a few too many times on take off just a little bit scary.

I consoled myself with the thought that I had achieved my aim and I went home to find the image of Richard cram to match up with my experience.

Then I realized, I confused a picture of Jim Banks with the picture of Richard Cram in my mind and in fact Crammy was riding the team bolt twinny in at a 4ft beach break, which, to tell the truth, is a far better idea than mine.

Look closely at the wave in the middle. You can see my 'friend' the SUP doing a bottom turn.

Nothing beats a pigment coat.

Suspended like a bug in amber. Over the falls I going.

Not a lot of rocker.

There should be a law........

Deep Vee and magic wings.

Long rake, like a jet fighter.

trying to use the whole rail.

I thought this.....

was this....!