Get Free Shipping on orders over $79
Surf and Rescue : George Freeth and the Birth of California Beach Culture - Patrick Moser

Surf and Rescue

George Freeth and the Birth of California Beach Culture

By: Patrick Moser

Hardcover | 24 October 2022

At a Glance

Hardcover


RRP $239.00

$225.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $56.44 with

 or 

Available for Backorder. We will order this from our supplier however there isn't a current ETA.

The mixed-race Hawaiian athlete George Freeth brought surfing to Venice, California, in 1907. Over the next twelve years, Freeth taught Southern Californians to surf and swim while creating a modern lifeguard service that transformed the beach into a destination for fun, leisure, and excitement. Patrick Moser places Freeth's inspiring life story against the rise of the Southern California beach culture he helped shape and define. Freeth made headlines with his rescue of seven fishermen, an act of heroism that highlighted his innovative lifeguarding techniques. But he also founded California's first surf club and coached both male and female athletes, including Olympic swimming champion and "father of modern surfing" Duke Kahanamoku. Often in financial straits, Freeth persevered as a teacher and lifeguarding pioneer--building a legacy that endured long after his death during the 1919 influenza pandemic.

A compelling merger of biography and sports history, Surf and Rescue brings to light the forgotten figure whose novel way of seeing the beach sparked the imaginations of people around the world.

Industry Reviews
"Patrick Moser is an excellent historian, surf or otherwise, and with Surf and Rescue we get Moser at his very best: clear-eyed and knowledgeable, a detail man who can nimbly pull back to present the big picture. George Freeth is an undeservedly forgotten figure in American cultural history, and Patrick Moser is the right person to bring him forward."--Matt Warshaw, author of The History of Surfing "That this nothing-if-not authoritative treatise on the understudied George Freeth is shockingly well researched comes as little surprise. That is what Patrick Moser is known for. Yet as rigorous as Surf and Rescue might be, the clarity of the language and the knowledge of topic--surfing--lifts this book into sheer page-turner territory."--Scott Hulet, The Surfer's Journal

More in Sport Biographies

Courage To Soar : A Body In Motion, A Life In Balance - Simone Biles
Unbreakable - Jess Halloran

Paperback

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF
The Mamba Mentality : How I Play - Kobe Bryant

RRP $54.99

$42.75

22%
OFF
When All is Said & Done - Neale Daniher

RRP $44.99

$35.75

21%
OFF
Messi and Ronaldo : Who is the Greatest? - ILLUGI JOKULSSON

RRP $39.99

$31.75

21%
OFF
NBA Legends : Discover Basketball's All-Time Greats - Dan Peel
Eleven Bats : A story of combat, cricket and the SAS - Anthony 'Harry' Moffitt
Endure : How to Work Hard, Outlast, and Keep Hammering - Cameron Hanes
True Spirit : The Aussie girl who took on the world - Jessica Watson
No Spin : The autobiography of Shane Warne - Shane Warne

RRP $49.99

$38.75

22%
OFF
The Boys' Club - Michael Warner

RRP $24.99

$21.75

13%
OFF
Perspective - Shaun Johnson

Paperback

RRP $36.99

$29.75

20%
OFF
Just Go : Turning fear into a superpower - Saya Sakakibara

RRP $34.99

$25.75

26%
OFF
Heartbeats : A Memoir - Bjorn Borg

RRP $34.99

$28.75

18%
OFF