A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

Aeder, Erik

aerial

Aguerre, Fernando

Aichner, Scott

Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

Alter, Hobie

Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

Andersen, Lisa

Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

Angola

Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

Aragon, Janice

Arakawa, Eric

Archbold, Matt

Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

Atlantic Ocean

August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

backdoor

backside

backside attack, Pipeline

backwash

bail out

Bain, Rob

Baja California

Baker, Bernie

Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

Baker, Tim

Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

Baltic Sea

Banks, Jim

Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

Barland, Michel

Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

Barry, Michael

Bartholomew, Wayne

Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

Beach Boys, The

Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

beachbreak

Beachcomber Bills Grand Prix

Beachley, Layne

beavertail

Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

Beschen, Shane

Strong and graceful Malibu surfer from the 1950s; part of a small group of young women in their teens and early 20s who rode what were called "girl boards"—thinner, lighter, easier-turning balsa boards, forerunners to the Malibu chip, which led to the development of the high-performance climb-and-drop style of surfing.

Flaxman was born (1932) in Los Angeles, raised in Santa Monica, and began surfing in 1950, at Malibu, on a custom-made Joe Quigg balsa. "Vicki was athletic and aggressive," Quigg later recalled. "In a couple of months, she learned to surf better than most men."

Flaxman's board was 9' 6" long and weighed just 24 pounds, 10 pounds lighter than most boards at the time, and it immediately became a popular loaner for the Malibu men—despite the fact that Flaxman had painted "Vicki" in big bright red letters across the deck. Aggie Bane, Claire Cassidy, Robin Grigg (sister of big-wave pioneer Rick Grigg), and Darrylin Zanuck (daughter of Hollywood mogul Darryl Zanuck) were also regularly lending out their new boards to their male friends and boyfriends. Flaxman's second board was shaped by Quigg's friend and Malibu surfing ace Matt Kivlin.

In 1951, Flaxman visited Hawaii for the first time, where she paddled competitively for the Waikiki Surf Club. She later became a member of the Outrigger Canoe Club.

Flaxman graduated with a BA in Education from UCLA and was teaching PE at Santa Monica High when, in 1955, after a six-week courtship, the 23-year-old eloped to Las Vegas to marry recently-divorced actor Jeff Richards. In 1957, Flaxman gave birth to her first daughter which more or less put an end to her time as a dedicated wave rider. "If I wanted to go surfing," Flaxman later said, "I had to get the playpen and the baby and all the baby stuff. And I had to arrange it so, when I was at the beach, somebody was watching the baby. It just got to where the hassle factor was too much."

In 1959, Flaxman married actor Van Williams, best know for starring in the short-lived but influential 

 TV series, and the two remained married until his death in 2016.

While Kathy "Gidget" Kohner is regarded as the prototypical American female surfer, Flaxman and her contemporaries, years before Kohner arrived on the scene, had already created an admirable female presence in what was about to become an oppressively sexist sport.

Williams (Flaxman), Vicki

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

The Sunday Joint