Surf Mama

One Womans Search for Love Happiness and the Perfect Wave

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Surf Mama Glove and Happiness

December 16, 2017 by Wilma Johnson

Couldn’t resist making a pair of Surf Mama Gloves when I was commissioned to make 60 pairs of one off hand painted rubber gloves by House of Voltaire  Perfect gift for the woman who has – almost- everything. You can buy them on line by clicking the link, or contact me for special commissions. But remember the Mamas Surf Club motto… “Out of the kitchen and into the surf”. They are decorative and not in any way meant to keep […]

Categories: events, exhibitions, surf mama • Tags: Art, house of voltaire, rubber gloves, studio voltaire, surf, surf mama

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Surf Mama in Huffington Post

March 9, 2017 by Wilma Johnson

Une femme qui apprend à surfer à 44 ans et après 3 enfants, c’était fou et je l’ai fait J’ai aussi appris à ne pas accepter les limites qui me sont imposées par des hommes en shorts en nylon avec des imprimés bizarres. C’est mon message en cette journée mondiale de la femme 2017! WILMA JOHNSON J’ai commencé à surfer à 29 ans. J’ai arrêté une demi-heure plus tard, après les trente minutes les plus longues de ma vie, qui […]

Categories: press, surf mama • Tags: surf, surf mama, surfing, women surfing

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Surf Mama in Surf Girl Mag

January 23, 2017 by Wilma Johnson

Out of the kitchen, into the surf

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: beach life, Biarritz, feminism, surf, surf books, surf girl, surf mama, travel, wilma johsnon, Womens surfing

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Surf Mama à Biarritz

October 17, 2016 by Wilma Johnson

pas juste un livre sur la quarantaine, ni juste un livre sur le surf, c’est un roman réjouissant

Categories: events, surf mama, Uncategorized • Tags: Basque country, Biarritz, guethary, Ireland, surf, surfbooks, surfmama, travel writing, women surfing

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Surf Mama in Woman Magazine

October 9, 2015 by Wilma Johnson

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Biarritz, guethary, never too late, surf books, surf mama, surfing, woman magazine, women surfing

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Surf Mama in August Good Housekeeping

July 8, 2015 by Wilma Johnson

Categories: press, surf mama • Tags: Biarritz, Good Housekeeping, guethary, surf, surf mama, surfing, travel writing, wilma johnson, women surfing

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Surf Mama on France 3 TV

June 18, 2015 by Wilma Johnson

Guided tour to Guéthary and studio visit on TV3 Midi en France…. they promised me my accent was very charming and ‘Jane Birkin’ ! http://www.france3.fr/emissions/midi-en-france/videos/suivez_le_guide_guethary_lappel_du_grand_large_17-06-2015_817062

Categories: press, Uncategorized • Tags: basqhe villages, beach, Biarritz, euskadi, guethary, pays basque, surf, surf mama, women surfing

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Surf Mama in Living France Magazine

March 16, 2015 by Wilma Johnson

Having a Swell time….. Very nice interview in Living France magazine April Issue, you can also find out how to get married in France, how to buy your Dream Home and how to make  chocolate meringues which I might try later if I’m feeling brave…. Buy the magazine http://www.completefrance.com/magazines/living-france Buy the book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Surf-Mama-Womans-Happiness-Perfect-ebook/dp/B00KO6YRX6

Categories: press, surf mama • Tags: Biarritz, Dingle, Living France, Living in France, surf, surf book, surfbooks, wilma johnson, Womens surfing

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Wilma Johnson surfs her dreams. (English version)

February 16, 2015 by Wilma Johnson

  Wilma Johnson surfs her dreams. In her book ‘Surf Mama’, Wilma Johnson tells the story of how she left an Irish fishing village with her family to come and live in Guéthary and live her dream – to surf. Words Sylvie Barrens ( translation WJ) Photos Bertrand Lapègue   To be honest, Wilma the artist wasn’t destined to become a ‘real’ surfer, the type who heads off in December in the rain to catch waves  beach, and comes back with […]

Categories: press, surf mama • Tags: Ballydavid, Biarritz, surf, surf mama, surfbooks, surfmama, wilma johnson, women surfing, Womens surfing

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Surf Mama in the Sud Ouest

February 15, 2015 by Wilma Johnson

Categories: press, surf mama • Tags: guethary, surf, wilma johnson surf books, women surfing

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Surf Mama by Bel Mooney in the Mail

October 28, 2014 by Wilma Johnson

Riding the wave of a mid-life crisis….. Once upon a time, in a fifty-something crisis, I set myself the task of learning to ride a motorcycle : a big sexy Harley Davidson. Among my group of L-plated wannabe bikers was a woman just a bit younger than me, who told me she was doing it because she was ‘tired of riding pillion and looking at the back of hubby’s helmet’. She had the guts to pass her test (sadly, I didn’t) […]

Categories: press, surf mama • Tags: surf, surf mama, surfbooks, wilma johnson

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Surf Mama Review in Trip Fiction

September 8, 2014 by Wilma Johnson

Wilma Johnson is living on the West Coast of Ireland with her husband and 3 small children. She is an artist and homemaker, whilst her husband takes to the waves and enjoys the surf. After 10 years and an increasingly wobbly marriage, the whole family decamps to Olatua, Biarritz in search of the Endless Summer Dream. Her surfing life at the age of 44 is just about to begin and she determines to learn to stand on a piece of […]

Categories: press • Tags: surf book, surf mama, travel writing, trip fiction, Womens surfing

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Surf Mama in Psychologies Magazine

August 6, 2014 by Wilma Johnson

https://psychologies.co.uk/why-wilma-johnson-making-waves  

Categories: press, surf mama • Tags: Biarritz, psychologies, surf, surf mama, surfbooks, wilma johnson, women surfing

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Surf Mama in French Entree magazine

July 4, 2014 by Wilma Johnson

SURF MAMA Wilma Johnson Summersdale £8.99 An autobiographical novel by a self-professed earth mother turned surf babe, who after ten years living on the remote west coast of Ireland had three children, a few chickens, a failing marriage and the beginnings of a mid-life crisis to show for it. The answer, relocate to Biarritz and defy the male-dominated surf scene by learning to surf. Though narcissistic at times,Wilma’s tongue-in-cheek humour makes it okay to re-invent yourself post-40, post children and […]

Categories: press, surf mama • Tags: Biarritz, French Entree, Living in France, surf mama, wilma johnson

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Surf Mama in Woman’s Own

July 3, 2014 by Wilma Johnson

How the Beach Changed Our Lives. Something incredible happened to these readers when they headed on to the sand.   Could I really learn to surf ? Sitting on a lonely stretch of beach I gazed out to sea and asked myself where it had all gone wrong ? I was 45, living in a coastal village near Biarritz, France, and my marriage had ended. Nick and I had three gorgeous children and had tried so hard to make it work, even […]

Categories: press, surf mama • Tags: beach, change your life, mamas surf club, surf, surfbooks, woman's own

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Spirit FM – Wave Euphoria

July 3, 2014 by Wilma Johnson

Spirit FM Review of Surf Mama Surf Mama By Wilma Johnson Published by Summersdale Billed as ‘one woman’s search for love, happiness and the perfect wave,’ here is a book that manages to be both a brilliant piece of travel writing and an amazing and inspirational human interest story. Living on the west coast of Ireland with her family, juggling her work as an artist with domesticity, in her 40s Wilma was suddenly gripped with the desire to move to […]

Categories: press • Tags: beach reads, surf, surfbooks, travel writing

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Surf Mama in Express Monday 9th June

June 11, 2014 by Wilma Johnson

      I turned a mid-life crisis into my great adventure on the waves. Mother-of-three WILMA JOHNSON was in her 40s when she realised all she wanted to diii was go surfing.   Sitting on a deserted windswept beach on the most westerly point of Irelandauthor and artist Wilma Johnson rememebers experiencing a life-changing epiphany. As she watched husband Nick gliding effortlessly across the Atlantic swell she suddenly decided that her mission in life was to learn to surf. […]

Categories: press, surf mama • Tags: surf, surfbooks, surfing, wilma johnson

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High 50 for Surf Mama

June 5, 2014 by Wilma Johnson

  Babe of Biscay: How I started a new life surfing in France Biarritz is one of Europe’s hottest surf spots. With her marriage on the rocks, Wilma Johnson learnt to surf at 40, moved there, and has written a book about it. Oliver Bennett meets the Surf Mama   At sea, a line of surfers straddle wild, white-topped waves. Back on the stately Quai de la Grande Plage, wetsuit-clad surf-bums stroll alongside ladies with lapdogs. It is time for that […]

Categories: press, surf mama • Tags: Biarritz, fifty-somthing, surf, surfing, wilma johnson

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Genius – Surf Mama and the Neo Naturists in the Guardian

July 14, 2016 by Wilma Johnson

Flashes of Genius – read the article Flashes of Genius – the wild world of the Neo Naturists Sean O’Hagan 11 July 2016 Dressed only in swirling body paint, they stormed through 1980s London – leaving a trail of chaos and confusion. Three decades on, they bare all about squats, Sellotape dresses and apple-bobbing in blood

Categories: press, Uncategorized • Tags: bodypaint, feminism, neo naturists, performance art, surf mama, wilma johnson

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Surf Mama at Providence Guéthary

June 5, 2016 by Wilma Johnson

Surf Mama Version Francaise launch party at Providence in Guéthary last night….. enjoying Happy Hour with Hawaiian Kona longboard beers … this is the only place in France you can buy it! The beer not the book of course…… Version francaise on amazon  

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Biarritz, guethary, surf, surf book, surf mama, surfbooks, women surfing

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Surf Mama at Vagabonde

May 10, 2016 by Wilma Johnson

Vagabonde – Qui va sans cesse d’un objet à l’autre, à l’aventure : Imagination Vagabonde Très contente de faire la première dédicace du version Francaise de Surf Mama le 11 Juin au Festival Vagabonde à Bordeaux, où je vais aussi exposer des toile influencés par la thème de la surfeuse vagabonde…. Very excited to be launching the french version of Surf Mama at the Vagabonde Festival in Bordeaux, where I’ll also be showing some paintings of nomadic surf chicks. Published by […]

Categories: events, surf mama • Tags: Biarritz, festival vagabonde, guethary, surf, surf mama, surfbooks, surfing, travel writing, wilma johnson, women surfing

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La Surf Mama

February 5, 2016 by Wilma Johnson

New flash for all my French Surf Mamas the French version of Surf Mama will be coming out in June with Editions Cairn. Very excited about the project and looking forward to a book tour round French surf resorts this summer, will definitely be taking my board!!! Photo: Celebrating in Biarritz with a So British G & T ©Florence Myard      

Categories: events, surf mama, Uncategorized • Tags: Biarritz, Living in France, surf, surf mama, surfbooks, travel writing, wilma johnson, women surfing

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