Go Explore: Launching Otter Wooden Stand-Up Paddleboards

Our three stand-up paddleboards – the 10’6″ Discovery, 11’6″ Adventure and the 12’6″ Endeavour – have all been designed for flat water adventures, be they on calm days on the ocean, harbours, estuaries and rivers or on lakes and lochs. They offer a stable platform, a long waterline, and have the capacity to carry a small load on the fore and aft decks should you wish to head off on an overnight camping trip up-river or to that inaccessible beach, or small island that you’ve always wanted to visit.

Why stand-up paddleboards, some of you may ask? Well, the simple answer is that when there are waves we surf, body surf and bellyboard; when there aren’t any waves we paddleboard, swim and dive. We already make bodysurfing handplanes and traditional bellyboards, and adding SUPs to our range rounds out our offering. It’s another way of enjoying the water. Our workshop is on the north Cornish coast, but this is the thin part of the peninsula and the south coast is less than half an hour away. When we can’t surf on the north coast there are plenty of opportunities to paddle on the south coast with its calm beaches and bays, and extensive estuary and river systems. These boards open up the possibility of long-distance trips along inaccessible stretches of coast, fishing forays, and overnight camping missions for us – and now for you too. That, and we’ve made a few custom SUPs in the past for customers and had enough enquiries now for us to consider making them more than bespoke one-off items.

All three boards feature a deep concave running from a third back from the nose right through to the tail, a long waterline (with a reverse stern), and a gently domed foredeck that cuts through and rides above rough water, keeping the nose clear and keeping you stable and a little dryer. There are carry handles on the sides and nose and tail, and heavy duty elasticated webbing that you can use to hold kit bags fast. We’ve designed a paddle available in two different timber options and with three different blade face contours to choose from. You can dig into more detail about the paddleboards and the paddle on their pages on the new Paddleboards section of our website.

As with everything that we make here, the most important thing is offering the opportunity for you to join us to make your own. That’s why we’ve taken our time developing this range; we’ve tested different designs and construction techniques to make sure that making one of these boards is achievable within a seven-day workshop. Because of the size of the paddleboards (and the fact that we have to significantly reorganise the interior of our workspace) these workshops are one-on one. They will run from Saturday through Friday (but please do drop us a line to discuss other options if you would require an alternative itinerary), and our aim is to keep them very much in the spirit of all of our other workshop courses.

Check out the full range of Otter wooden stand-up paddleboards.

Find out more about our make-your-own stand-up paddleboard workshops.