Journal
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
New Year, New Model Sometimes we set out to design and make a new wooden surfboard model, and sometimes one develops seemingly organically. The Barque is a new addition to the Otter Surfboards range and is one such shape; the quickest way to describe it would be to call it a smaller version of our ever-popular Island Hopper model, but that would be doing it a disservice. Developed over several workshop courses as the result of a number of...
As one calendar year clicks over into the next, we like to take the opportunity to pause and reflect on the twelve months just passed so that we can...
"It is the story of how I built a surfboard when I never thought I could, and what it's like to build a company when I never thought I would." In...
As autumn ends here in Cornwall yet more neoprene is taken out of the backs of sheds and garages to help us keep surfing through the winter. We’ve...
This last week we’ve been caretaking a book that is both very rare, and incredibly relevant to what we do here. Tom Blake – The Uncommon Journey...
The community of surfers who have passed through our workshop over the years is a beautifully broad spectrum representing the 21st Century surfer. Over the course of their week spent making and shaping a wooden surfboard conversations often touch on how a person came across us, and why they ultimately chose to spend a week of their holiday with us in the workshop rather than ordering a custom surfboard or buying “off-the-rack”. These...
Sometimes, one wave is all a person needs. It could be one of many, or the only wave of a session, but if it’s enough to make a memory then we’ll...
Spending a week making a wooden surfboard here at Otter is, for most people, going to be a step away from their day-to-day. The differences between...
Creating anything with an organic material such as wood is both challenging and hugely rewarding, particularly if your aim is to work with and show...
This autumn our friends at Surfers Against Sewage have been busier than ever with a twin-pronged attack on the plastic pollution that blights our...
Last weekend, we held our Annual Gathering of Makers. It's a special occasion for us, when we invite all of the makers who have joined us over the past few years to craft their own wooden surfboard back to spend a weekend together surfing, making new friends over shared experiences, enjoying good food and having a few beers. We gather at Dunkirk Farm, where James made his first few wooden surfboards just a mile or so from the site of our...
When making surfboards, accuracy, symmetry and attention to detail are essential considerations. Our wooden surfboards use a skin-on-frame...
"The summers passed with each year. I don't seem to remember them anymore. I remember the fall and the coming of winter. The water got cold. It...
Our August Bank Holiday workshop had a little bit of everything in it, and as such was a fantastic representation of what makes our “Make Your...
It feels somewhat counterintuitive to drive away from Cornwall and head up to London in the middle of August, but last weekend that's exactly what we...
Traffic jams, full car parks and a seemingly never-ending succession of nor'westerly fronts. Welcome, to summer by the sea. Residents can't complain about what the summer holidays bring to the south west though, apart from the rain. The busy-ness is good for business, after all. So how to make the most of this corner of the country, at the same time as everybody else? Surfing early, whilst most beach goers are enjoying a holiday lie-in, and...
Chris and Rikke drove from Denmark to make their own surfboards with us last week. They took their time and made a road trip out of it, spending some...
Jonny, Andy and Jon arrived on the Monday morning of this year's April workshop as total strangers to one another. Over the course of their week...
On Friday June 23rd we opened up the doors of our workshop, and of the Eco Park's barn opposite us, and were joined by an amazing crowd of people for...
