More Than Mermaids : Wahine Magazine Editors Kick Off Publication for Women Who Make the Plunge Into Action

It was not a gathering of beach blanket betties, though there were plenty of those strutting downtown Huntington Beach Sunday with the closing of the OP Pro Surfing Championships.

Instead, many of the women at the International Surf Museum fit the readership of Wahine magazine, which premiered that afternoon: women who don’t simply watch surfing or the other water sports covered in the sleek, new publication--they just do it.

Doing it like no one has dared before is publisher Marilyn Edwards and editor Elizabeth Glazner, who are reshaping notions of water women and, most notably, women’s magazines in general. Even their swimsuit editorial manages to be gorgeous and feminine, without being the stuff of Sports Illustrated’s guy-coveted swimsuit issue.

Among professional and hobbyists of the magazine’s celebrated sports on hand, there were members of the Los Angeles County Lifeguard All Women’s Ocean Team. The team--co-sponsored by the magazine--reached the national championships last week, where they took their seventh consecutive victory. The team was co-sponsored by the magazine.

While tans and muscles lead the looks, many guests went Hawaiian in new and vintage aloha prints. Leis , both plastic and real, were another favorite.

Museum founder Natalie Kotsch went luau glam with a blue and purple ‘60s number she picked up with the original tags still attached at a garage sale. The Dick Dale years continued in sartorial and musical theme with the Neptuna’s, the fete’s entertainment who provided enough twangy guitar and camp for a half dozen Frankie and Annette flicks.