Head Shaper:

Harold Iggy

Behind the Brand: Rick Naish originally moved from California, along with his family, to Oahu in the early-’70s. He established Naish Hawaii in 1979, an operation that manufactures boards and equipment for kite surfers, wind surfers, surfers, and stand-up paddlers. Once in the islands, it wasn’t long before Robby Naish—Rick’s son, who grew up on Oahu—came to fame as a multiple windsurfing world champion. Currently split between Kailua on Oahu and Maui, Naish’s main office is based in Haiku, where they continue to produce quality, dependable equipment—for beginners and experts alike—that they say is built to give their clients confidence in the water, no matter which boardriding disciple they’re focused on. Their head shaper, Harold Iggy, worked with luminaries like Dale Velzy and Dewey Weber before heading back to his roots on Oahu, where he connected with Rick Naish to shape surfboards, windsurf boards, and, most recently, SUPs. “The progress in stand-up paddling has been immense,” says Iggy. “Two years ago, everybody was riding 12-foot boards. Now things are getting much more compact and easier at the same time. The shorter stand-up boards have also opened the performance door. With designs like our Hokuas, which are a lot looser, surfing crappy conditions becomes a lot more fun.”

About Naish's Most Popular Models: “My most popular model is the Mana 9'5",” says Iggy. “It’s a wide-style stand-up board designed for small, slow, mushy surf. It’s so easy to ride and easy to turn. People often have the misconception that stand-up boards are huge—that they can’t even turn. With some boards even reaching under the 9-foot mark, this is changing, and I think it will continue to change further in the future.”

Shop Talk: “All of our current stand-up boards are sandwich epoxy models. We use a lot of wood-veneer, which has been proven successful over the past years. In the future, we should see further development in the wood-veneer direction in combination with sandwich construction.”

If you only had three boards to choose to ride for the next several years, which would they be? “Stand-up paddling is different to surfing in that aspect. You don’t really need several boards. If you are mainly surfing your home spot, then one style of board will do the trick. If expansion were necessary, then I would pick a racing board and a more standard stand-up board. The cruising, or racing, board will keep you fit during flat spells, and the other board will make you want to go surf when it’s good.”

Which project are you and your customers having the most fun with at the moment? “Short and wider stand-up boards, like our Mana series, seem to be a lot of fun for our customers. They discover easy handling and effortless turning, which makes even very small and mushy surf a lot of fun. The more time they can spend on the water in a variety of conditions means out clients can have more fun in the timeframe that they’ve got available to surf.”