The closest I’d ever gotten to Harold Iggy was when he paddled by me at Malibu one day when the Weber crew were on a surf day from work because there was a good south swell in the water.

I was a teenager, he was about 8 years older than I, so he was in his twenties. Of course I knew he was Weber’s shaper, which is why he was surfing with Weber when they’d show up at Malibu on a good swell. But he could surf well too. Weber was a good surfer as well, so when they came to Malibu they just took over… you didn’t drop in on those guys.

They’d get the good set waves, ride them all the way down the point, pull out and paddle back to the top on the point only in time for another good set wave. It didn’t matter who was waiting for a good set wave. They would just paddle for the waves they wanted and that was that.

Dewey Weber surf boards was a big label. I always thought they were cool boards. And, because Harold Iggy shaped them I always thought he was one of the best shapers. One day I visited the Weber store and after hanging in the store for awhile looking at the surfboards I walked out of the store and ended up walking around the back of the building. To my surprise, I happened on to Iggy’s shaping bay, with him there mowing foam.

Either nobody saw me or nobody cared I was there… I wasn’t in anyone’s way standing off a distance. But I was in a dream, watching the guy I wished I could be, shaping surfboards for one of the big names. At that time I’d maybe made a few boards, and because I was self taught I’d never really seen anyone shape a surfboard before. I’m not sure how long I stood there, if someone finally came and told me to beat it or after a time I thought I should go before I got in some kind of trouble…. Really can’t remember.. I was in a trance the whole time.

A few years later when I was working with the Wilderness guys I got real close to one of the boards Harold shaped for Nat Young. Nat surfed for Weber in 1969 and when ever Nat was in California he’d come up and visit Mike Cundith… Nat and Mike were good buddies.

Well, Nat had gotten this new board that he was really stoked about and brought it up to the Wilderness shop one day. Mike liked the looks of the board so he asked me to shape him one. So I took Nat’s board, nicked the outline, set the board in my shaping bay, got a blank and replicated the board Harold Iggy shaped for Nat.

Nat would rave about how good Harold Iggy could shape, and for good reason of course. Nat said Harold was so good at getting his rails perfect. So here I am replicating an Iggy shape and Nat would come into my room and check the board to see how I was doing. I think Harold Iggy is one of the best shapers ever, I’m copying one of his boards, that he shaped for one of the best surfers in the world. That best surfer is in my shaping bay checking my work… talk about nerve racking!

Harold Iggy passed away this week, very sad to hear about. He no doubt impacted many, many lives. Mine included, even from a distance. One of my heroes now gone.

RIP Harold Iggy.

D.R.