Jimmy Lewis is a Hawaiian surfer,

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

and

surfboard shaper A surfboard shaper is someone who designs and builds surfboards. The process of surfboard shaping has evolved over the years, and the shaper often tailors his or her work to meet the requirements of a client or a certain wave. Surfboard shapers ca ...

. Born in Newfoundland Canada, he moved to maui when his father was stationed Hawaii. He still lives on

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

where he personally takes care of the research and development of his boards at his workshop on Nehe Place, in

Haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...

. At the young age of 15 years he shaped his first

surfboard A surfboard is a narrow plank used in surfing. Surfboards are relatively light, but are strong enough to support an individual standing on them while riding an ocean wave. They were invented in ancient Hawaii, where they were known as ''papa he'e ...

, showing a talent that led him to develop many innovative projects from

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...

, to

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

, to tow-surfing, to

kitesurfing Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...

, then on to

stand up paddle boards Standup paddleboarding (SUP) is a water sport born from surfing with modern roots in Hawaii. Stand up paddleboarders stand on boards that are floating on the water, and use a paddle to propel themselves through the water. The sport was do ...

. In the early 80’s Mike Waltze brought Jimmy Lewis into the limelight as the “shaper” of the moment, winning the
Aloha Classic
with one of Jimmy’s custom windsurf boards. In 1982 the French windsurfer

Pascal Maka Pascal Maka is a French windsurf Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf cu ...

broke the

speed sailing record Speed sailing records are sanctioned, since 1972, by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC). Records are measured either by average speed over a specified distance or by total distance traveled during a specified time interval. The three ...

on a windsurf board, reaching 27.8 knots,http://www.internationalwindsurfing.com/userfiles/documents/ISWC_The_History_of_Speed_Outright_Record.pdf using a board created by Jimmy Lewis specifically for the event. In 1986,

was the first windsurfer to break the speed sailing record from

Timothy Colman Sir Timothy James Alan Colman (19 September 1929 – 9 September 2021) was a British businessman and a Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk. Biography Colman was from the Colman's mustard family, and was the son of Lettice Elizabeth Evelyn Adeane and ...

's ''Crossbow II'', which had held the record for six years. He reached a speed of 38.86 knots using a Jimmy Lewis board and a sail manufactured by Gaastra. The same day three other athletes broke the record before him: Eric Beale (36.73 knots), Jimmy Lewis (36.31 knots) and Fred Haywood (36.13). During the 1990s he began his collaboration with Bic and Sailboards Maui, developing models of commercial success. He also worked with Windsurfing International designing plugs for production boards, including the Windsurfer 99, among others. Then, around 1995, with Lou Wainman, a famous pioneer of kite surfing, he developed the first bidirectional board completely innovating the sport. In 2005 his interest in stand up paddle (SUP) began to grow, and he quickly became one of the protagonists of this new discipline shaping the first prototypes for

Laird Hamilton Laird John Hamilton (born March 2, 1964) is an American big-wave surfer, co-inventor of tow-in surfing, and an occasional fashion and action-sports model and actor. He is married to Gabrielle Reece, a professional volleyball player, television ...

. The Jimmy Lewis Cruise Control 11'0.7 is still in production and is the most sold stand up paddle board in the world. The Jimmy Lewis board is entirely hand-built in the Kinetic factory in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, using a

sandwich-structured composite A sandwich-structured composite is a special class of composite materials that is fabricated by attaching two thin but stiff skins to a lightweight but thick core. The core material is normally low strength material, but its higher thickness provid ...

. Jimmy Lewis claims that the manufacturing is done almost exactly the same way as he builds boards on Maui using the same materials and techniques and, above all, with the same meticulous care and attention to detail. The kiter Niccolò Porcella, the SUP racer Paul Marconi, and his son (not an ASP Pro) Marlon Lewis are among his athletes using his boards. All around the world the Jimmy Lewis brand has made a lasting impression and inspired sup surfers and racers to push harder. In the UK, Ian Phillips of www.surfs-sup.co.uk has been pushing the brand onto an already busy market and it has really been accepted by British and Irish sup surfers.

Notes

References and further reading

Aloha Classic Maui

Standupjournal

sdc kiteboard

international windsurfing association

the kite border

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Jimmy American surfers Living people Surfboard shapers Sportspeople from Hawaii Year of birth missing (living people)