SYDNEY, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- An Australian surfer is making waves in the popular sport's community for getting back a surfboard that was stolen from him 40 years ago after spotting the item in a museum gallery online, local media reported on Sunday.
Peter Gilson said his mother saved the equivalent of about 1,800 Australian dollars (1,315 U.S. dollars) and bought him the surfboard in Newcastle of New South Wales state in the late 1970s but it was soon stolen from the garage.
"To be honest, at the time, being a young kid, I didn't really give it too much thought but as the years went by it occurred to me how much of a sacrifice my mum had made to get me that board," the ABC news channel quoted Gilson as saying.
Four decades later, Gilson began repairing vintage surfboards and spotted his former one with its unique horse image online -- someone had taken a photo of it at a surfing memorabilia gallery in Western Australia on the other side of the country.
Gilson contacted the gallery owners and told them about his connection to the surfboard, which had "probably passed through many sets of hands over the years," by providing an old photo of it.
The surfboard's latest owner decided to send the surfboard to Gilson in New South Wales and "hand it back free of charge."
The widely lauded gesture is "always a bonus" as vintage surfboards can fetch premium prices, Lee Murphy, the administrator of a community portal for board collectors, was quoted as saying.
"There are a lot of collectors out there looking for their first surfboard as they hold a lot of sentimental attachment," said Murphy.
"It looks just like I remember," said Gilson as he held the surfboard he got back.
"It'll go up on the wall, along with a picture of my mum."
