Harold was Dewey Weber’s shaping machine in the late 1960s, right in the heyday of Weber Performers. Dewey was selling thousands of them each year, and he was putting boards out of his South Bay factory like a demon. I recall one surf shop in Houston selling 600 of Performers in one summer. For me, I was beginning to try and figure shaping out. I had worked on shaping a thousand second blanks for Foss Foam and had an idea of task sequence, but pattern sweeping, blending skills, and an overall sense of philosophy and method were still to come. I walked into Dewey’s shop and asked him for a shaping job to which he simply said,“Sure,” and put me on the fire to see if I could actually cook, the fire being a shaping stand next to Harold Iggy, his star. Iggy was sweet to me. He gave me a quick primer on what he did, what was special about Weber boards, shape signatures and so forth, and then turned back to mowing foam. He had his own style. Most shaper banded rails, matching the bands on both sides for angle and taper, then blended them into smooth matching curves. Not Iggy. He curved the decks down to about a two-inch square on the sides that represented the outline. Then he took ahold of the end of the board, lifted it from one end and began rounding one rail, front to back with a sureform, then went back to front on the other side. Did each complete rail separately. Sanded it out, screened the rails. Viola! Done. I’d never seen it done so fast and easy. No painstaking side to side methodology to have the rails match. When he was done, the board was right. I was in shock. I did it my way for two weeks then moved south. But all my life I’ve remembered Iggy’s shaping technique as a life lesson. “Bra! Don’t make problem where no is.” He was a true classic, and a good surfer too. –S.P.

From Randy Naish's Facebook page:

Harold Ige, shaper, friend, and mentor, died in my arms today. We were testing new 18ft sup prototypes, everything was fine, Harold took a good one, rode it a couple hundred yards. I was about 50 yards behind, when I watched him collapse into the water. I got there as fast as I could. He'd been under a min or maybe two, time gets funny when one is put in this position. A passing kayak instructor helped out,had a phone on him and called 911.

Kai Santos (good old friend and waterman) saw the pilikia and swam out with fins and together we tried to resuscitate Harold, we were towed in by an instructor from Kailua sailboards and kayaks. (Thanks Leo!) and a C&C lifeguard. Response time from Honolulu C&C was super. When we got to the beach the ambulance was pulling in. When I saw Harold go under, I knew something was up, very unlike Harold. When he didn't come up after a few seconds I knew something was bad. We fought hard all the way to the beach to bring him back. Called out to Harold, God, and anyone else who may have been listening to help us. I've never felt so helpless! I did all I could, WE did all we could. I'm sorry. I'll never forget this day even if I want to. The surfing world lost an icon, a legend, and a friend to many, a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a mentor. Love you uncle Harold.

Aloha,

Randy Naish