A board made during the 1940s by shaper Bob Simmons is to star in California Gold, a sale of surfing memorabilia.

The auction will take place on September 26 in Los Angeles, with the proceeds benefitting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Simmons was a renowned early surfboard shaper

The $20,000-30,000-estimated lot was built for the ground-breaking rider Dempsey Holder, who was among the first to take on the mighty waves of the Tijuana coast.

The auction house explains: "The typical Simmons board was wide (around 24 inches), with a thin, squared-off tail, finely turned and calibrated rails, and a broad spoonlike nose.

"Pre-war boards for the most part had been redwood-balsa composites coated in varnish; Simmons, working out of his garage in Pasadena, used balsa only and was one of the first to cover his boards with a layer of resin-saturated fiberglass.

"On September 26, 1954, in eight-foot waves at San Diego's Windansea, Simmons was struck in the head by his own board and drowned."

A lightning bolt "Pipeliner" board, shaped and ridden by the legendary Gerry Lopez, is another highlight.

Lopez personally rode this board between 1975 and 1976 before selling it on to a Japanese collector.

It's expected to make around $8,000-15,000.

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