Randy Rarick remembers that one rare find.

A man in Maunalani Heights called him to check out an old surfboard.

The owner had tried to trade it in for a newer board at a local surf shop, but the shop wouldn't take it.

"He pulled this board out, and it was a flawless Phil Edwards," said Rarick, surf promoter and vintage-board expert.

"It was gorgeous. I told him this board was easily worth $2,000. And he only wanted $200."

Those lucky finds don't come often.

Most times people think any old board — to be "vintage," it has to be at least 25 years old — is worth thousands. Usually, it's not.

"A lot of people have unrealistic expectations," Rarick said. "They think anything old is valuable."

But Rarick can guarantee one thing: All the boards — about 65 of them — at today's Hawaiian Islands Vintage Surf Auction will be the real deal, from a 10-foot solid wood plank from the 1920s (estimated worth around $9,000) to the Lightning Bolt shaped by Gerry Lopez for the movie "Big Wednesday" (around $15,000).

It's a walk through surf history for any surfboard aficionado. And they're waiting to be viewed — and bid on.

The auction coincides with the 15th annual Hawaii All-Collectors Show, also at the Blaisdell Center (see box).

This is the third biennial surf auction, organized by Rarick. Proceeds from the auction go to the city's Junior Lifeguard Program.

Collecting boards, Rarick said, is nostalgic, a way to remember the past. And often times, it's their own past these collectors are trying to remember.

"Most people start collecting in their 40s," said Rarick, 56, who admits to hoarding some vintage custom boards. "They have disposable incomes and they're starting to vicariously relive their past. ... For me, it's fun to just see them, feel them and move on. I don't need to own them."

Rarick has found rare gems for this year's auction through simple — and apparently effective — word-of-mouth.

In the past two years since the last auction, people have called him about old boards they've had stashed in their garages or in spare bedrooms.

"I left no stone unturned," Rarick said. "I've spent months crawling under people's houses or in their attics, hundreds of hours scouring through people's collections."

What makes a vintage board valuable has to do with its provenance, its history. Did someone famous shape it, ride it or own it? Is there something about this board that makes it one of a kind?

Like the rare 5-foot Bunker Spreckles "fish" made of wiliwili wood or the 6-foot-10 experimental air-induction board by Tom Morey.

These are not your typical store-bought boards.

"There are a lot of beat-up boards out there," Rarick said. "And a lot of them are hardly worth anything."

The auction features more than just surfboards. There are surf posters, vintage canoe paddles, even the earliest known magazine to ever publish a piece on surfing, dated 1822.

"It's really a little sampling of the era," Rarick said. "It's a mini surf museum."