Journal
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
Exploring the broad spectrum of worldwide contemporary surf culture, the team behind Gestalten’s latest offering, a heavy coffee table book titled Surf Odyssey, found an incredible variety of subjects to feature. From frigid frontiers to tropical idylls, and from home-made through to high-end, it celebrates those who are forging their own path and pursuing their passions through the filter of surfing, and we’re honoured to have been...
Last Wednesday James took on the drive from Cornwall up to London, pushing his way through West London traffic at rush hour to arrive at...
In the middle of March, James and our good friend Tony took a few weeks off the making of Tony’s wooden surfboard with us to head over the Irish...
This last week the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Ecology published some research that spells out a bleak future for British woodlands; a...
George Greenough is the barefoot genius and inventor whom many people argue was the catalyst for the shortboard revolution of the mid-1960s. Born...
Living out of the back of a van seems to have become incredibly en-vogue in recent years. A sure sign of that is when a parody film, such as the one produced by the wonderful guys at Crayfish Films, appears on the scene offering a tongue-in-cheek take on a social media phenomenon. James headed off to Ireland for a couple of weeks on Friday afternoon. On Thursday morning, he realized that the simple sleeping/storage platform in the back of...
It’d be fair to say that we’re fans of a proper tea break here at Otter Surfboards; downing tools for ten minutes a couple of times during the...
It's fairly common for visitors to the Otter Workshop to comment on James' lack of footwear. For most of the year, in the workshop, on the beach and...
Surfboards vary in appearance as much as the human beings that use them; many become a vehicle for expression both in the way that they are ridden...
Over Christmas and the New Year James and Liz finally headed off on their slightly belated honeymoon, trading the wind and rain of the northern...
We’ve had a rather unusual surfboard stored in the workshop for the past year or so; it’s a twelve feet long replica of a Tom Blake style finless paddleboard and it’s spent time alternately propped up in the corner or stacked atop the timber racks. When visitors spot it they usually end up asking what it is and why it’s here because it’s so different to everything else in the workshop. The short answer is that it’s here because it...
Our first “Make Your Own” workshop week of 2016 has just finished up, and it was a great way to kick off this year’s series of courses. We...
We’re excited to share with you this week the news that, this spring, we’ll be heading up to Surf Snowdonia in North Wales to run a week-long...
Abandon all hope of glory Let it fall from your hand, Float through grit And settle to the sand. Swim on comrades The Closeout is...
The roof of our workshop has been a bit noisier than usual this past week. That’s because when it wasn’t drilling down with rain, we could hear...
As the New Year begins, it’s nice to take a moment to reflect upon everything that happened over the past twelve months. We think that applies to every individual; the New Year is a natural point at which to pause and reflect. We like to do it as a company, and so this week we’d like to share with you ten of our high points from 2015:
Well, Christmas Eve has well and truly crept up on us again following a flurry of activity throughout December. We’d like to wish all of you a very...
The festive season sees almost everyone taking a few days off to spend time with family and friends, and for many of us that means lighting the fire...
Our final workshop of 2015 has just wrapped up, and it was a great week to finish the year on. Every single one of the “Make-Your-Own” wooden...
