OLD TIMERS’ DAY, 2005

Over 200 members and guests attended the October 2 event here in Oceanside, and spent the day admiring old boards and chatting with each other. Here are some highlights:

Guest of honor, 95-year-old Emil Sigler, was particularly taken with an action portrait of himself, by artist Wade Koniakowsky. “That’s me!” he exclaimed. Second from left is author David Aguirre, who has written a book about Emil’s fascinating surfing and ocean exploits in the San Diego area, beginning in 1926.

Emil had seen stand-up surfing as a child in San Francisco and could see that San Diego offered many excellent surf breaks and slightly warmer water, but when he arrived in 1926, he could only find one surfboard in town. It was an 85-pound plank belonging to lifeguard pioneer Charlie Wright, and Sigler made good use of it until he could get enough decent wood to craft his own.

Soon he towed it by dory, rowing almost 2 miles to be the first to surf the enticing sets at Tourmaline in Pacific Beach. Emil became a lifeguard at Mission Beach and served as mentor to the next generation of pioneers – Dorian “Tex” Pascowitz, Bill “Hadji” Hein, “Stormsurf” Taylor, Don Pritchard, boardmaker Lloyd Baker, Kimball Daun and others.

 Pat Curren and John Elwell discuss some of the finer points of surfboard design


See more Old Timers day photos in the photo gallery