Journal
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
Surfboards, in all their various forms, are relatively fragile; getting them from one place to another, be it to your final destination on a surf trip or in the first instance delivering a board from the shaper to the surfer, can be a risky business. We like it best when customers come and collect their surfboards from the workshop here, because most of our surfboards are made by their new owners and it’s a lovely chance to reconnect with them...
In mid-October, the workshop was full of the noise and energy of the Koska kids; Flora, Ellie and Jolly. In the summer of 2015 their dad Marc joined...
As we near the end of another year, before we start looking ahead to what’s to come in 2019, we like to take a moment to pause and reflect on the...
The first of our new range of exploration stand-up paddleboards to be developed was the largest; the 12’6” Endeavour. A former workshopper,...
Sharp chisels, plane blades and saws in a woodworking workshop are a given; but a sharp pencil is probably the most important tool of all. There’s...
As I walk along the litter-laden coastline of my local beach break clutching a beaten-up old surfboard held together largely with duct tape and good luck, I'm resigned to the notion that it's probably time for a new board. However, I've been navigating the moral maze of being a surfer and environmentalist for several years now, and it turns out being both at the same time is not that easy. The problem is that, although surfing itself...
With Christmas fast approaching, and because some of our products such as handplanes and bellyboards are handmade to order, we need to let those...
At the end of last year, James’ dad Andrew turned sixty. We’d been developing, slowly but surely, our range of flat-water exploration stand-up...
The first wooden surfboard that James made has just celebrated its tenth birthday, and it’s still going strong! Whiz is a 5’10” classic twin...
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...
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 circulars. We love one particular postcard in particular; it’s one of our own postcards and it’s been stuck to Martin’s fridge door in Glasgow for almost exactly five years. Martin picked it up at the London Surf Film Festival in 2013 (this year’s festival has just wrapped) where we were lucky...
“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...
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 waxes are made using petrochemicals however, and whilst we’ve tried a fair few “green” alternatives we’ve never been convinced enough by their recipes or performance to be confident offering them for sale. That was until we came across Others #woodstowaves surf wax project. Others is the...
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...
