surf | Surf Mama

Indian Summertime

September 21, 2014 by Wilma Johnson

Autumn in Olatua isn’t so much the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness – it’s more the season of scorching sun, big swells and surf pros slashing across the waves. South winds ice the village with Sahara dust, thunderstorms like Hammer Horror special effects shake the house at night. You have to make the most of the Indian summer , because as anyone who lives here through the year will remind you, in ominous tones reminiscent of Game of Thrones…. ‘Winter […]

Categories: Blog, surf mama • Tags: beach, Biarritz, guethary, st jean de luz, surf, surf mama, surfing

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August in Olatua

September 8, 2014 by Wilma Johnson

‘August is party season. The village is packed, the bars are packed, the wave is packed. Apart from the usual crowd you have to negotiate swimmers, divers harpooning octopus,rubber dinghies and jet-skis.’ Some people leave the village for August, the crowds are insane compared to the rest of the year, but sometimes it’s more fun to just go with it, fiestas in Pamplona, Bayonne and every other town village or hamlet in Pays Basque. Parties every night in the […]

Categories: Blog, Photos, surf mama • Tags: August, Biarritz, Olatua Surf Mama, Summer, surf, surf mama

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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 at To the Lighthouse in Ciboure

August 5, 2014 by Wilma Johnson

Back on the Cote Basque after the crazy tour round Ireland, London, Cornwall Liverpool. Surf Party book launch at To the Lighthouse fantastic new English language bookshop in Ciboure. Surf tips, aperitif, and I’ll be reading an exert about surfing in the bay of St Jean the day after the village beaujolais fest…. Dress code : Aloha Shirts 21 Quai Ravel Ciboure from 6.00

Categories: events, surf mama • Tags: Ciboure, cote basque aloha shirts, surf, surf mama, to the lighthouse

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Surf Mama in France

July 4, 2014 by Wilma Johnson

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

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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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Jazzing the Glass

June 18, 2014 by Wilma Johnson

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

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Back to my Roots

June 18, 2014 by Wilma Johnson

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

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Surf Mama

One Womans Search for Love Happiness and the Perfect Wave

Tag: surf

Indian Summertime

August in Olatua

Surf Mama in Psychologies Magazine

Surf Mama at To the Lighthouse in Ciboure

Surf Mama in France

Surf Mama in Woman’s Own

Spirit FM – Wave Euphoria

Jazzing the Glass

Back to my Roots