Thunderbolt Surfboards: Black vs Red vs Silver Explained

What is a Thunderbolt surfboard?

It is an EPS (expanded polystyrene) foam board with carbon flex beams where a wooden stringer would be. A wooden stringer is the thin strip of wood down the middle of most surfboards. The shell is epoxy, a hard resin.

Yu Sumitomo, who started the company, told us the beams sit in three places: an A-beam, a V-beam and a T-stringer down the center. The stiff parts are kept stiff, and the parts meant to flex are left free to flex. Every board is a molded board, meaning the blank comes out of a mold already in its finished shape. Over 80% are vacuum laminated, meaning the cloth and resin are pressed down by vacuum. That squeezes out as much resin as possible, so the board rides like the fiber instead of the resin.

What is the difference between the three builds?

Black, Red and Silver are constructions, not paint colors. All three use an EPS core with carbon flex beams. Black changes both the inside and the outside, Silver keeps Red's inside with a different outer skin, and that changes the rebound, how fast the board springs back after it flexes.

Silver keeps Red's inside flex, with Volan glass on the outside, a few more layers and a little more resin. Traditional riders wanted a bit more weight and a softer rebound, and Yu told us CJ liked it much better. CJ Nelson's Sprout 2.0 and Slasher Low Pro both come in it.

Not every model comes in every build. The size table below shows which builds each model comes in.

Who builds Thunderbolt?

Yu Sumitomo started Thunderbolt. He grew up around his family's board building. Yu told us his father built windsurf boards and snowboards, and twisted every snowboard before it shipped to check its flex.

Yu told us he made about 22 or 23 boards that were all the same board: same shape and outline, weight as close to the same as possible, with only the flex pattern changed. CJ Nelson and Harley Ingleby rode them for two weeks around Japan in all kinds of waves. On the last day Yu asked each of them separately which one they liked, and both picked number 2. That board was the start of Thunderbolt Red, in 2016.

For more on how those two riders came to the boards, see the story behind CJ Nelson's boards and Harley Ingleby on the construction.

How did one longtime pro come to these boards?

Ezra Rodriguez, who surfed professional longboard contests in the 1990s and early 2000s, came to it through a friend. His friend Kapono Nahina, a fellow pro longboarder, told him he had to try the construction. Ezra came into our shop, and his first board in it was a Harley Ingleby HIHP. Ezra told us, "the feeling I get when I ride these boards is one of confidence."

Which model should I look at?

Start with the waves you surf most, then compare liters with your current board. Volume, in liters, is how much float a board has.

Donald Takayama's boards run from longboards to short mid-lengths. The DT-2 is one 2+1 longboard (a center fin with two small side fins) that turns, trims (rides fast along the wave's face) and noserides (lets you walk up and stand near the nose) from small days to waves well over your head. The In The Pink is his noserider, wide and steady for time up front.

For something shorter, the DT Egg is an easy mid-length, a board between a shortboard and a longboard, with a broad nose for paddling and glide, and the Scorpion 2 is a short, easy mid-length from 6'4" to 7'0". See them all in our Donald Takayama collection.

Harley Ingleby's line runs from longboards to mid-lengths. The HI4 has a 4+1 fin box (one center fin box plus four side boxes) and a wider nose than his HIHP for walking up the board. The HIHP Speed is narrower. The Diamond Drive 2.0 has a wider tail and a teardrop nose concave, a shallow scoop under the nose.

In mid-lengths, the Moe paddles easily, and the MID 6 adds six channels, grooves in the bottom that add drive. The full line is in our Harley Ingleby collection.

CJ Nelson's boards run from the Sprout 2.0, a dedicated noserider, to the Slasher Low Pro, a single fin log that noserides and turns.

The Chameleon sits between a noserider and a performance longboard. The Parallax Plus is an easy paddling longboard you can learn on, and the Outlier X is a short performance egg, a board with a rounded outline, from 6'3" to 6'9". See the line in our CJ Nelson collection.

What sizes do they come in?

Compare the liters below with your current board. More liters paddle easier.

The MID 6 also comes in 7'0".

Send us your height, weight, current board and home break (the spot you surf most), and we will help you narrow it to one model, one length and one build.

What fins go in these boards?

It depends on the fin box. A 2+1 box takes a center fin and two side bites (the small side fins), and the In The Pink can also ride as a single fin. A 4+1 box runs as a single, a 2+1 or a quad (four fins). The Moe 7'2" and 7'4" have five fin boxes and run as a thruster (three fins) or a quad.

For Harley's boards, our Harley Ingleby fin setup guide explains the thruster, quad and tri quad sets. A thruster feels stable and controlled, and a quad feels faster and looser, meaning quicker to turn. A tri quad is a set that lets one board feel like either one.

"A Takayama fin" can mean two different fins. The Takayama Halo is a center fin and side bite set for a 2+1.

The DT Flex is a single fin that pivots in a turn and holds when you need it. Shop Halo fins, DT Flex fins and the rest of our longboard fins.

How do I look after one?

Keep it out of a hot car and long direct sun. Use epoxy repair materials only, never polyester resin, because polyester resin can damage the EPS foam core.

A ding is a crack or dent in the board's shell. A small surface scratch is fine with an epoxy ding kit. For a crack or anything through the outer layer, get out of the water and bring it to us, or send us a photo and we can usually tell you what it needs before you make the trip.

Frequently asked questions