Ah, it’s the beginning of the holiday season. I may be sedentary and couch-ridden, still in the anaconda-like process of digesting everything I ate on Thursday, but the quest to shine a light on the greatest vintage surfboards for sale around the internet is a neverending one.

I’ve written about vee bottom boards a few times here on Shred Sledz. I’m particularly fond of the Surfboards Hawaii vee bottom models, which I wrote about here and here. The Bahne Crystal Ship – an appropriately groovy name for a transition board – is another cool example, which I wrote about here. Finally, here’s a cool Hobie vee bottom design that popped up for sale a little while back. Finally, I wrote a recent post on a Hansen Derringer vee bottom, which can be found here.

The board pictured here is another Hansen vee bottom board for sale on Craigslist in Orange County, California. It has a clear serial number on the stringer – #18098 – and even a signature from Don Hansen, the brand’s namesake. Regarding the signature, though, this was clearly added after the board was shaped, as you can see it is on the exterior of the fiberglass and not on the foam. The board measures in at a tidy 7′6″, which seems right in the ballpark of similar shapes from the transitional era.

The poster claims the board was shaped sometime in the late 1960s and Stoked-n-Board dates the serial number to 1968. I’m having a hard time figuring out the fin box situation. I’m starting to think that this could be an example of Hansen’s own proprietary fin system, which S-n-B claims was produced from 1966 to 1977.

One interesting tangent I stumbled across when researching Hansen vee bottoms. It seems like Hansen’s Derringer model is the one mostly associated with the vee bottom shape. But excellent site The Surfboard Project also lists a Hansen pintail from the late 60s with a vee bottom design. I have included their picture below. This board looks a LOT like a Hansen Mike Doyle model, and it’s even the same length as some of the Doyle boards (8′6″), but I digress.

Picture from The Surfboard Project

Anyway, back to the board in question. The thing I can’t figure out is why the board pictured here isn’t considered another Hansen Derringer. It looks remarkably similar to the Derringer model, starting from the distinctive diamond tail / v bottom block, to the pin lines on the deck, which create that vaguely trapezoidal shape where the surfer’s front foot might go.

The other interesting thing about the board is the “Custom” text that can be found beneath the logo. I’m not sure what this refers to. Maybe this was a custom board that was based on the Derringer model?

Finally, the glass job looks suspiciously new and shiny for a board that is almost 50 years old. I think another coat may have been added at some point. There’s a decent amount of browning on the board’s bottom – either from water damage or the sun, I can’t tell – and it just doesn’t seem right that the glass would be in such pristine condition, given this damage.

Anyway, you can check out the Craigslist listing here. The seller is asking $650 and it’s a rad example of a late 60s transitional board.