Greetings, Shredderz! Today we’re featuring two quick surfboards shaped by Hawaiian legend Harold “Iggy” Ige. Ige was born in Hawaii in 1941, and spent time in both California and his native Hawaii shaping for some of the best known names in the business. Ige worked for both Greg Noll and Dewey Weber when both brands were headquartered in the South Bay area of Los Angeles. Dewey Weber produced an Iggy signature model, which you can still find now and then. Ige returned to Hawaii in the Seventies, where he began shaping boards under The Surfboard Shaping Company label.
Today I wanted to feature two The Surfboard Shaping Company boards that were sold recently. The first one, featured at the top of the post and below, was sold on Craigslist in Honolulu.
It’s a beautiful Seventies single fin with some really gorgeous touches. I love the warm colors, right down to the fin. The logo placement on the bottom of the board, right above the fin, is also neat and unexpected. I’m not quite sure what’s going on with the deck — I can’t tell if the orange patch is simply just an opaque resin tint. The second leash plug up by the nose is unusual, too. This board was listed at $520.
Another Harold “Iggy” Ige The Surfboard Shaping Company board was recently sold on eBay…and, well, this somehow managed to slip past a lot of folks. You can find a link to the listing here, although the sale ended over two months ago. The board is a beautiful Seventies sting, and somehow it sold for a mere $250.
The Surfboard Shaping Company sting isn’t in perfect condition — not pictured are some open dings on the swallowtail, for example — but it’s well worth $250 when considering Ige’s place in surf history, not to mention that super sweet fin! You’ll also notice the sting has a slightly different logo. If I had to guess, I would say the sting was probably shaped a little later on in the Seventies than the yellow The Surfboard Shaping Company single fin above, but I’m not certain.
Ige is most certainly deserving of a longer post (sadly, he passed away six years ago), but for the time being, I hoped you enjoyed this quick overview of some of the boards he made shortly after his return to Hawaii.
I’ve shaped boards beginning in 1963 & had the privilege of seeing Iggy for a moment while he was working on a longboard rail in a booth at Webber’s in Venice, CA. He was moving the rail back & forth to see shadows on the top & bottom rail from an over head strip light. It was in 1966 or 67 for sure.