London Surf Film Festival 2012

28 . 10 . 12

We’ve been back in the workshop for a little over a week now, and whilst our trip up to London was fun and action packed, it’s nice to be back beside the seaside. Plus we got home in time to make the most of a really good groundswell that hit the South West earlier on this week!

One of the major factors that drew us up to the Big Smoke was the London Surf Film Festival. Now in it’s second year, the LS/FF 2012 was a four day event that screened twelve international feature films and ten short films with Q&A sessions, live music, photography exhibitions, contemporary surfboard displays and talks on surf photography and…wooden surfboard building!

James was kindly invited by the festival organisers, Chris Nelson and Demi Taylor, to present a talk about our surfboards and how they are constructed. His talk was on the Sunday afternoon and went down in front of a room packed full of people, with some interesting questions being asked after the presentation.

We were exhibiting in the Approaching Lines room alongside a select group of British surf artisans and producers (including photographers Tim Nunn and Roger Sharp, Finisterre and Grannies Knitts, and festival sponsors the National Trust were also there with the 6’10” Macrocarpa surfboard that we made for them, on display as part of their incredible stand.

We took up the latest surfboard to come out of the workshop, a 7’3” Island Hopper constructed from Western Red Cedar with Poplar and reclaimed Teak accent strips and the new logo set into the deck and bottom of the board in Walnut veneer. One of our Hand Luggage handplanes had just made it back from the shorebreaks of South West France too so sat nestled at the bottom of our display.

We had a fantastic four days at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith meeting new friends, catching up with old ones, sharing a few beers and laughs, and enjoying some truly fantastic surf films. One of our favourites also turned out to be everybody else’s favourite, as it won the “Peoples Choice” awards as well as the award for Best Documentary. Take a look at the trailer for “North of the Sun” and you’ll probably never complain about surfing the UK in February again.

We hope to be able to attend again next year for LS/FF 2013, and we’d love to see some of you up there too. It comes highly recommended by us here at Otter Surfboards. Thanks to Chris, Demi and the LS/FF sponsors for putting on such a wonderful event and celebration of surf culture.