27 . 06 . 15
It’s not a race to complete the list of daily tasks involved in making your own wooden surfboard with us here, but you’d never have known that if you stepped into the workshop here last week; Jon, Leo and Matt met each other first thing on Monday morning, and from the outset their relationship was built on a friendly competitiveness. Jon and Leo were both making near-identical 6’10” Jettys on neighbouring trestles, whilst Matt was making himself a 6’4″ Woodburner. The North Atlantic hadn’t been playing ball for much of the first part of June, so for the first half of the week at least the guys had no reason to rush away from the workshop as they could only go swimming in the sea to wash off the sawdust at the end of the day, before a small swell started to trickle in on Thursday. They got their heads down and worked hard on their surfboards, looking up occasionally to cast a glance over at their neighbours work to see how theirs was comparing. We’re pretty strong believers in taking the time to get things right the first time around here, and so James had to ensure that the atmosphere of friendly rivalry didn’t overspill into a situation where things became rushed. It was nice to see the three of them moving between each others’ trestles to help out if one started to fall behind, and to offer each other constructive (if often a little comedic) feedback. The nicest thing though, was seeing the three of them develop a camaraderie and friendship as the week developed, united by the task at hand and their similar senses of humour.
Below are some photos from Jon, Leo and Matt’s week with us making their own wooden surfboards. The next workshop course with availability begins on August 24th – see the workshops page for further details.
