Journal
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
Until 1967, there was no such thing as a longboard. Then the shortboard revolution happened and all of a sudden what had previously been called “ a surfboard” became a longboard as surfing sub-divided. Fast-forward over a half a century and the taxonomy of surfboard shapes has increased even though surfboard dimensions remain within a relatively narrow range. However, the simplest classifications used are still so often “shortboard”...
Alan Stokes is one of the UK’s best-known surfers, with a career spanning over 20 years and three British titles under his belt. Obviously, we were...
At a low enough latitude, which for surfers here in the UK means the north of Scotland and the Outer Hebrides, on the summer equinox when the sun...
I’ve spent a fair chunk of my adult life now at sea on wooden vessels – be they surfboards or sail boats. Holding the line of a 5'5, 8kg...
It was our Chris' birthday last week but despite him having the day off, he came in to the workshop anyway. Why? Because the surf in the little bay...
Take a scroll through social media, and if you didn't know any better then you could perhaps be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that women's surfing is all sunshine, sand, palm trees and wetsuits that finish at the bottom of the....bottom. The reality is not often so. This week, with International Women's Day and Mothering Sunday here in the UK, we celebrate our female friends who surf right through the unglamorous winter months, inspiring...
Snow rarely settles on this stretch of coast; in fact it very seldom falls. When it does, and there's surf, it's definitely a novelty that gives a...
Sometimes, one wave is all a person needs. It could be one of many, or the only wave of a session, but if it’s enough to make a memory then we’ll...
"The summers passed with each year. I don't seem to remember them anymore. I remember the fall and the coming of winter. The water got cold. It...
Traffic jams, full car parks and a seemingly never-ending succession of nor'westerly fronts. Welcome, to summer by the sea. Residents can't...
Jonny, Andy and Jon arrived on the Monday morning of this year's April workshop as total strangers to one another. Over the course of their week with us each of them made their own wooden surfboard and, much to our delight, made new friends. It's what we always hope will happen, and it frequently does. The three of them made plans to all collect their surfboards on the same day at the end of June, on the weekend of our Boards, Bangers and...
At this time of year, when the sun rises so early, we sometimes (as often as humanly possible) manage to squeeze in a dip in the sea before heading...
Last summer we received an e-mail from one of our friends at Surf Simply; Kerianne, their logistics manager, was spending a summer on Long Island,...
Peering through the half-light of dawn, filtered through the mist and spray hanging in the air, you see a speck fall in to a wave and suddenly betray...
The 7’10” single fin pintail had been back from the laminators for a few weeks, taking up residence on the workshop wall whilst we waited for a...
Back in August three of our friends, David Smith and Jack Middleton from Surfers Against Sewage and Jack’s girlfriend Brogen Latham, travelled to California to compete in the 40th annual World Bodysurfing Championships at Oceanside Pier. Whilst conditions during the championships were challenging, to say the least, they had an incredible trip and have returned home inspired by what they saw and the new friends that they made. Here’s...
If you take a left out of the end of our road, follow it a mile or so to the end and turn right down the valley, you'll meet the Atlantic Ocean at...
Long-range groundswells born of far off hurricanes and the first rumblings of winter mix with the last gasp sunshine of summer in autumn, and the...
Last September Mat headed down to the southwest corner of France for a few weeks with his friends from Surf Simply. Because September and October are...
