Why George Freeth came to California

by Brandon Forest
(Davis, CA)

The back story why George Freeth came to California is as interesting as his story here. Jack London was spending some time in Honolulu with his wife Charmian unwinding from their first leg of their "South Seas" journey on the Snark. A local promoter by the name of Alexander Hume Ford approached him at dinner and struck up a conversation. During this conversation he offered to arrange for Jack to try "the sport of kings" at Waikiki Beach.

The next day, Hume introduced Jack to George Freeth, who then instructed Jack on how to surf. Jack was terrible at it, but was enamored with surfing and stuck with it for several days until his sunburn put a stop to it. He wrote an enthusiastic story about it for the "Ladies Home Companion", and later a chapter in his book "Voyage of the Snark".

It was the magazine article that sparked an interest in surfing on the mainland, so that when Freeth went to California he was welcomed by Henry E. Huntington who arranged for George's exhibition in front of his hotel in Redondo Beach. Below are a few links for those who want to read more about surfing history.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Californias_First_Beach_Boy
http://www.picklehead.com/ian/ian_txt_surfing.html
http://www.legendarysurfers.com/