Journal
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
July was a good and busy month for wooden surfboard workshops here at Otter, and at the very end of the month we welcomed Marc Koska to the workshop. Marc is, amongst other things, one of the organisers of the TEDx Brighton conference that James spoke at last year, and for the past nine months or so he’s been telling us how much he wants to come down and make his own wooden longboard with us. Marc is a very busy man, though – an...
Last Saturday, James and Liz became Mr and Mrs Otter. Hooray!
In the mid-nineties, an ex-pat Aussie lifeguard residing in Hawaii named Andy Cochran started to develop a new type of swim fin. His aim was to...
Last weekend we joined the wonderful team from Surfers Against Sewage at Somersault Festival in North Devon for a weekend of mud, music and...
For many families, school summer holidays involve going away somewhere and spending a week or so together making memories and enjoying each others...
A few weeks before Claire arrived in the UK from California, a large package arrived at the Otter Workshop addressed to her. When we opened it and unwrapped what was inside, we found four beautiful planks of Californian redwood.
It's often been said when trying to describe the sensation of getting barrelled that "time slows down in the tube". We think that time slows down...
A few weeks ago Chris arrived at the workshop to spend a week helping us machine timber in preparation for a "Make-Your-Own" wooden surfboard course,...
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...
Last Friday, it was grey and raining in Cornwall. In the true spirit of all the best British summer festivals and events, whilst the rest of the...
Last weekend a very special event happened in Wales, and we were lucky enough to be involved. Every year on a remote farm in Ceredigion, West Wales, just over a hundred people gather for four days to attend the Do Lectures. The Do Lectures is curated by the brilliant David Hieatt, and is a series of inspiring talks delivered by a really diverse range of pretty incredible human beings. The 80 attendees are advised early on to avoid getting...
We're not quite sure how we're going to top this one; having kept it a secret for the past few months, we're now incredibly proud to announce that...
We have a date for your diary folks; on Friday, June 12th, the workshop will be open late and we are inviting anyone and everyone who is interested...
The maxim "Measure Twice and Cut Once" is heard so often in the Otter Surfboards workshop that we thought we'd go ahead and paint it on the wall (at...
Kurt arrived at the workshop on Monday morning, having driven his pick-up truck half way across Europe from Switzerland to come and spend a week...
It’s lovely catching up with friends who have built surfboards with us in the past – that’s why we throw our “AGM” celebration every autumn to try and get as many workshoppers in one place at the same time to share their experiences with one another. Sometimes the making bug bites and building just one wooden surf craft with us isn’t enough, so whether those who have shaped handplanes or bellyboards return to build a full-size...
Earlier this year the guys over at Wavelength Magazine sat James down in their "Hot Seat" to ask him some questions about how Otter Surfboards came...
Every surfer around here is worn out at the moment, and in a really good way. April has been a bumper month for waves, with back-to-back swells,...
This week we've had Alan and a whole lot of sunshine in the workshop with us. Whilst the beach at the bottom of the hill has been intermittently...
