Journal
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
I’ve spent a fair chunk of my adult life now at sea on wooden vessels – be they surfboards or sail boats. Holding the line of a 5'5, 8kg Seader in fast, beautifully round, waves in the Maldives for the first time required a shift in my approach. I had to slow down, to feel more, and become more sensitive. It didn't happen on my first attempt, or even my second, but with some patience and practice I realised that James’ board demanded my...
Everybody loves getting a postcard through the mail, particularly in the age of e-mails when most of what lands on our doormats is bills and...
“It has taken seven years to write and it’s only 27,000 words long but I have finally finished the thirteenth book that will have my name on...
Every year, as summer gives way to autumn, we invite all of our previous wooden surfboard workshop attendees back to Cornwall to celebrate their...
Summing up all of the steps and processes involved in one of our week-long wooden surfboard workshop courses can be a challenge - how does one go...
Over the course of the last year we’ve been developing a range of three flat-water exploration stand-up paddleboards. We spent this summer refining and testing these three models and two paddle options and are now (having dropped a few teasers and left them in the background of some workshop photos) excited to be launching them for sale and as a seven-day workshop course.
Surf wax is as necessary when surfing as the surfboard itself, but it’s also a small, consumable product that is often overlooked. Most surf...
June, July and August have been busy months so far here in the workshop, with “business as usual” colliding with the culmination of various...
Allow us to introduce Ally. Ally is one of James’ best friends, and the latest member of the team here at Otter Surfboards. For his 30th birthday,...
Easkey Britton, PhD, is a pioneering Irish surfer with a fascinating story: an academic and world travelling professional surfer, amongst other...
Surfing is often referred to as “The Sport of Kings” thanks to its ancient history as the preferred pastime of Hawaiian kings and queens, but it is not only the Hawaiian royalty and nobility who enjoyed riding waves – our very own British Royal Family have been known to also. Great Britain, the Hawaiian Islands, and their Royal Families have had a long and interesting relationship through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The Sandwich...
Last Friday we were lucky enough to host the UK premiere of The Plastic Project’s film Dispatches From a Plastic Planet at our annual Boards, BBQ...
Last week, Joe and Mat joined us for our June wooden surfboard workshop week. They’re identical twin brothers, and back in January they had a big...
The summer solstice is fast approaching, and with it our annual “all are welcome” open-workshop evening of Boards, BBQ and Beers on the evening...
A couple of weeks ago we were lucky enough to be featured on Kate Humble's new series of Back to the Land, which has been shown on BBC Two over...
Yesterday, on Saturday the 19th of May, HRH Prince Harry married Ms Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle. Amongst the wedding gifts they received was a traditional wooden bellyboard made by us, from English grown poplar and cedar, commissioned by Surfers Against Sewage and presented to them as a gesture of thanks for being selected as one of the seven charities who will benefit from the royal wedding.
The Benefits of Making Most of us work with our hands every single day. But because the majority of developed economies are now based on...
It was our Chris' birthday last week but despite him having the day off, he came in to the workshop anyway. Why? Because the surf in the little bay...
Sometimes, and completely coincidentally, we have an “International Week” here at the workshop when all of the participants on a wooden surfboard...
