Tag: Biarritz
Surf Mama in France
SURF MAMA Wilma Johnson, Summersdale £8.99 Artist mother and wife Wilma Johnson was living a seemingly contented life on the west coast of Ireland when, in her mid forties , she was overwhelmed by the desire to seize the moment and move to the French resort of Biarritz to take up surfing in the Atlantic Ocean. However, Wilma’s dreams soon turned sour, with her marriage starting to suffer and her children speaking no French. Her first attempt at surfing was […]
Categories: press, surf mama • Tags: beach reads, Biarritz, France, Living in France, surf, wilma johnson
Surf Mama in French Entree magazine
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
Jazzing the Glass
The flat spell continues, soon surfers will start to lose their religion and make the ultimate sacrifice to the pagan sea gods by burning surfboards, while manically beating on their bongo drums to summon up a swell. Partly to remember what a wave looked like Florence and I headed over to Jazz the Glass in Biarritz last night for the opening of Sylvain Cazenave‘s exhibition of surf photos from four corners of the ocean. I have a running joke with Sylvain after I […]
Categories: Blog, surf mama • Tags: Biarritz, surf, surfbooks, surfphotos
Back to my Roots
After a crazy week in London launching the book it was quite calming to get back home and back to my roots with the Mamas Surf Club on friday. A bit too calm in fact – we had the sort of waves I dreamt of when we first started in 2005, tiny to non-existent. For a while we had another motto alongside ‘Out of the kitchen and into the Surf’. ‘Never too small for the Mamas.’ But I’ll say the […]
Categories: Blog, letter form Olatua, surf mama • Tags: Biarritz, mamas surf club, surf, surf mama, wilma johnson, women surfing
High 50 for Surf Mama
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
Surf Mama 