This is a board that came to me a while ago and has been sitting in the board shed waiting to get some love. It is a Viking Custom Surfboards made in the late sixties in Cape Town during the whirlwind short board transition period. These boards are very rare in South Africa as there were so few makers at the time and most were quite conservative in their design approach and had limited access to international trends. Whoever made this board must have been aware of what was happening in the States at that time or got to see a board in person as it has many design details not found on similar period boards. The rocker is low and pretty neutral with a subtle S deck. Dims are 6.6 x 23 x 3 with a really nice double-ender plan shape. Rails are narrow 50/50 knife all round and the bottom has a beautiful hull profile. The fin is set way forward ala classic Hull/Tracker and has unfortunately had a clumsy re-shape. The knifey rails have taken a beating as have the nose and tail, and it has some small-caliber bullet holes in the tail!! but all in all it is very well made and in good condition. Going to fill in the rail holes and deck dings, re-lam the rails and then remodel the fin. Then a gloss and polish and she will be ready to grace the waves once more some 40+ years after she was first built.
