Her Payment for Pioneering Role Among Women Surfers Is All in Fun

The waves are lining up and peeling off the point at Malibu with their usual uncanny precision. A dark figure drops into a wave and cranks a sweeping turn across the face, a strange black veil flapping madly behind. As the camera zooms in, it becomes clear the surfer is a woman . . . wearing a habit.

The scene seems to give new meaning to the term “flying nun.”

It was 1981 and Shannon Aikman was making her Hollywood debut in a decidedly ‘B’ movie with the unimaginative title of “The Beach Girls.”

Almost drowning while attempting to stay afloat on her shortboard in a soaking-wet nun’s costume wasn’t all she had to do to earn her $50 a day, though. After all, this was more than just a stunt woman’s role; this was a bona fide speaking part.

The party is in full swing when someone passes the surfing nun--still in her habit--a joint. She takes a long drag and then says, “Hey man, let’s party.”

Still another new meaning to the term “flying nun.”

OK, so a star wasn’t born. Aikman wasn’t nominated for any awards, she won’t be retiring on the residuals and the film didn’t get any kudos for good taste.

The experience was, however, just the kind of adventure she sought after deciding to become a professional surfer after graduating from Corona del Mar High School in 1975.

“I did it for fun, not money,” she said.

It’s a good thing, too, because her pro surfing career certainly lived up to her not-so-great financial expectations. In a career that began with the first women’s professional contest (in Malibu in 1975) and spanned nearly a decade, Aikman won less than $3,000. And that included a few first-place finishes and rankings as high as No. 3 in California and No. 8 in the world.

“I never expected to make a living at it,” she said. “I just wanted to surf and travel.”

Aikman got her wish and rode the waves in France, Hawaii, Mexico and Australia. For 10 years, pro surfing was her one-way ticket to paradise.

Aikman was 12 years old when she looked through the window of her Hermosa Beach home one morning and spotted a couple of surfers bobbing in the waves.

“I was getting ready for school and it was a really cold morning and I remember wondering what could be so special that you’d sit out in that freezing water on a day like that,” she said.

Soon, with the help of a surfboard given to her by a friend’s brother, she found out. By the time her family moved to Orange County, Aikman was an avid, self-taught surfer.

She became a pioneer of sorts. She started the first surfing team at Corona del Mar High. In 1975, she helped the fledgling Women’s International Surfing Assn. get off the ground. When she first surfed in France, all the local men got out of the water to watch, applauding every time she rode a wave because they had never seen a woman surf.

And now, 21 years after she paddled into her first wave, Aikman is still likely to be one of those early morning revelers, surfing near her Newport Beach duplex in the twilight of a sunrise. And, if the surf’s up, she might be in the water all day.

“I’ve always loved big surf and I always excelled in contests when the waves were big,” she said. “I’ve never really been afraid of them and I love the adrenaline rush.

“The ocean has always been more than just a recreation for me. It’s almost a spiritual thing, a chance to center yourself, to get in touch with yourself. When I was surfing all the time, I didn’t really appreciate it as much as I do now.”

Aikman, now an ardent sailor and president of the Newport Beach-based Women’s Ocean Racing Series, hasn’t completely weaned herself of her competitive instincts. Her “quiver” still consists of four “arrows” (surfboards), although she admits she probably could get by with two.

“Sometimes I find myself out there thinking that I’ve got to catch 10 waves in 15 minutes like I was in a contest,” she said. “I have to force myself to relax and enjoy it.”

Aikman, now 33, believes she could “just paddle out and beat half the competition” in a pro contest. She gave up pro surfing in 1985 to attend UCLA, however, where she earned a degree in political science. She has no regrets about the decision.

The few top women professional surfers in the world earn about $50,000 a year in contest money and endorsements these days, but Aikman is hoping for a bigger prize. She is president of her own products development company, an offshoot of a patented stop-smoking system she developed.

After six years of trying to sell the idea to corporate America, Aikman recently reached an agreement with a firm that is marketing her three-week, three-stage program called Kick the Habit, which uses 42 disposable filters to wean smokers from nicotine.

The idea is not new, but Aikman improved the technology and had it patented. The system is now available in drugstores and is being touted with full-page newspaper ads and national television commercials.

“It’s a dream come true,” she said. “When I quit surfing professionally, I decided I wanted to start my own business. My dad had been involved with another filter system and that’s how I got the idea. But the next product I’m working on will be totally new. It’s my own invention.”

Working for yourself has one distinct advantage: the boss never gets mad if you take the day off to recreate.

“I love to play tennis and golf and I’m sailing more and more,” Aikman said. “But, hey, if the swell’s up, I’m in the water. I’ve never had any business that was so important it couldn’t be set aside long enough to go surfing.”