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Wave Woman cover art

Wave Woman

By: Vicky Heldreich Durand
Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
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Publisher's Summary

Wave Woman is the untold story of an adventurer whose zest for life and learning kept her alive for 98 years. Betty Pembroke Heldreich Winstedt was the granddaughter of Mormon pioneers who, after spending an active and athletic childhood in Salt Lake City, moved to Santa Monica with her family and enrolled at USC to study dental hygiene. Betty went on to elope with a man she hardly knew, and to have two daughters.

In middle age, Betty finally followed her dream of living near the ocean; she moved to Hawaii and, at age 41, took up surfing. She lived and surfed at Waikiki during the golden years of the mid-1950s and was a pioneer surfer at Makaha Beach. She was competitive in early big-wave surfing championships and was among the first women to compete in Lima, Peru, where she won first place. Betty was an Olympic hopeful, a pilot, a mother, a sculptor, a jeweler, a builder, a fisherwoman, an ATV rider, and a potter who lived life her way, dealing with adversity and heartache on her own stoic terms. A love letter from a daughter to her larger-than-life mother, Wave Woman will speak to any woman searching for self-confidence, fulfillment, and happiness.

©2020 Vicky Durand (P)2021 Vicky Durand

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Very enjoyable read

Enjoyed the story of Betty. Her history in terms of family tree, social paradigms reflecting life in the 50s and 60s, siblings, careers. Mostly her enthusiasm for life.

Doing something most of us dream yet perhaps never do. Make a short holiday a long term cultural change. For the better. Embrace a new sport, lifestyle that ultimately not only creates a healthier person, happier children. Here, this was surfing. A new sport that embraced women. And thus Betty became part of a movement, global, promoting new events through participation. Exciting times.

It’s also a story of deep friendships, old love, new lasting love for her new chosen homeland, Hawaii. Cherished trips with her children, friends, Charlie. Always curious, always giving her best, always solution driven no matter the circumstance. Funny anecdotes re surfing adventures, fast driving, camping & sailing trips, a defiant woman unafraid of cheeky louts stealing coconuts off her land knowing her worth (with the prop of a baseball bat). plenty of anecdotes about the beauty of the Hawaiian islands, generosity of the people in & beyond the surfing culture.

This story told...a pearl.

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.