4’x1′

10 . 08 . 14

The 2014 World Bellyboarding Championships are fast approaching us, and we’re busy practising and preparing for one of our favourite “surf contests” in the calendar. This year’s event will run on Sunday September 7th, and registration for entrants has recently opened – spaces usually fill up pretty quickly so if you want to take part then don’t delay! We love the champs not only because everybody is competing on wooden surfcraft or because it takes place just a couple of miles away from our workshop, but because it is a wonderfully light-hearted and encouraging competition where smiles score just as highly as manoeuvres.

otter surfboards wooden bellyboard workshop

“Build Your Own” Bellyboard Workshop from Otter Surfboards on Vimeo.

The WBBC is a strictly no wetsuit affair – here’s Chris training in a super functional pair of British-Made Riz Boardshorts.

We’ve been involved with the Championships for a number of years now, exhibiting our surfboards, bellyboards and handplanes there, running demo sessions and this year we’re proud to announce that we’re making all of the trophies for the event, as well as giving away a spot on a “Build-Your-Own” workshop day as a prize. Over the next month, in the run-up to the event, we’re laying on more workshop days for those of you who want to compete on a bellyboard that you’ve made yourself. We’ve only got spaces left on August 30th now, if you want to get a couple of coats of oil on your creation before your heat, but also have dates available throughout the rest of the year and into 2015. We’ve made a short video (above) to show you what’s involved, and where it’ll take you.

If you want to learn more about the rich history of bellyboarding in the British Isles, the championships, and a bit of advice on “how-to” then pick up a copy of the September edition of Coast Magazine (out now) – our words and images man Mat produced a feature article for them that will tell you all you’ll need to know about riding waves on a 4’x1′ wooden board!