Building Bellyboards

The day started at ten with introductions over cups of tea, before James talked them all through choosing a template and drawing it onto the prepared laminated cedar blanks that were awaiting them, adjusting the template as they saw fit.

They then cut out their outline using Japanese pull saws – a tool that we’ve celebrated before on our blog – and used surforms, saw-rasps and fairing boards to fine-tune their rails.  All of this hard work was punctuated by plenty of tea and biscuits, and a lunch break taken down the road above the beach at Porthtowan.

It was rather stormy and nobody was tempted by the waves on offer, so work on everybody’s bellyboards progressed through the afternoon with lots of sanding to achieve a perfect finish.  Emma, Barbara and Chris then stamped and signed off their new bellyboards and were shown how best to oil and look after their new creations by James before finishing up for the day just after 6.

After a couple more coats of oil at home they’ll be ready for a splash in the waves, well in time for the better weather and slightly calmer surf of spring and summer.  Well done the three of you, your bellyboards turned out wonderfully and we look forward to catching some waves with you soon!