© 2012 California Surf Museum  Emil Sigler, who turned 100 in June 2010, is a man who made the ocean his life. He first saw surfing as a child in San Francisco, where three Hawaiian lifeguards rode the rough, cold waves in their spare time. One of the guards, Eddie Kamoku, befriended the youngster and regaled him with stories of great Hawaiian watermen and explained how to treat the ocean with respect. Eddie showed Emil how to paddle and stand on the board, but only on dry land. Surfing was too dangerous for him because of his size and age. “Your time will come,” his Hawaiian mentor told him.   Emil never forgot those words. When his family moved back to San Diego in 1928, Emil naturally gravitated to the beach, where he discovered lifeguard Charlie Wright’s old wooden board, “Iron Tip,” leaning against the sea wall at Mission Beach. Duke Kahanamoku had given Charlie the plans for building a surfboard after the two had swum together at an exhibition in 1916, but the 140-pound plank had not seen much use since then. With Charlie’s permission, Emil knee-paddled the board out through the breakers, turned it around, and caught a decent wave to shore. The locals on the beach went wild, and San Diego’s surfing era had kicked in. Soon after, Emil got a job at a downtown lumber yard and was making boards on a regular basis from prime redwood, mahogany, pine, and balsa. His boards turned out to be much lighter and more maneuverable than “Iron Tip,” and soon the area lifeguards were using them as rescue equipment as well as for recreational purposes. Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz was one of the most passionate advocates of surfing in town, and considers Emil Sigler a giant role model: “I met Emil when I was a kid of 14, in love with the ocean. Instantly, I knew here was my teacher.”           Emil Sigler If you are interested in learning more about Emil Sigler, you can order the book Waterman’s Eye, by David Aguirre, from the California Surf Museum for $35, plus tax and shipping. It includes dozens of surfing and beach images photographed by Emil in the late 1920s-1940s. Waterman’s Eye At almost 100 years of age, Emil Sigler has seen his share of adventure. From his youth as a pioneer surfer in San Diego through a career as a commercial fisherman, Emil has always pushed his limits. The loss of an eye at the age of three did not stop him from becoming one of Southern California’s premier watermen. Besides helping to create the surfing culture of the pre-World War II era, he served for several years as a San Diego beach lifeguard and was known for his diving skills and wave knowledge. Waterman’s Eye chronicles the early life of this amazing man from his first ride on a 140-pound redwood surfboard in 1928 to his days as a long-range fisherman. Included are 72 photographs, selected from Emil’s negatives, showing the surfboards and the characters of those early years. Among these historic images are early surfing photos of San Onofre and descriptions of the beach scene that developed there during the 1930s. Waterman’s Eye is a unique look at the beginning of the Southern California beach culture and one of the personalities that helped shape it. Aloha David Aguirre