Journal
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
This winter we’ve been investing some time in materials research and development. With our backgrounds in design it’s important to all of us here to be constantly evaluating and looking to improve what we do and how we do it. It’s how progress is made.
Every now and then we introduce a member of the Otter Surfboards team to you, so that should you happen to stop-by and visit the workshop one day...
The first workshop week of our 2015 programme ran this week, and it was wonderful to welcome a friend from just down the coast into the workshop....
Last September, just as the last of the summer warmth was preparing to give way to autumn, James managed to sneak in one final surf in boardshorts at...
At this time of year, living around here as a surfer, you’ve got to believe. If you don’t, then you might as well not bother investing in a...
Thomas Edward Blake is one of the most important figures in surfing, and probably the most important single person in the history of wooden surfboards. Whilst Polynesians had been riding waves on wooden surfboards for hundreds of years, it was Blake whose experiments and innovations through the 1920s and 30s led to lighter paddleboards and surfboards, alternative (and widely accessible) construction techniques, the introduction of the fin...
This deep into winter many of us rely on the woodburner in our front rooms to provide warmth through cold evenings. At Otter Surfboards we also rely...
What have you resolved to do in 2015? If you struggled for ideas and had no answer when your colleagues asked you what your new year's resolution...
Tonight the clock will tick over past twelve o-clock and we'll all be entering a brand new year. It's a time to be looking forward and making plans...
Well, we’re down to the last few days of 2014. Today, Sunday, is the winter solstice and so from now on we can look forward to all of the...
Today, Friday 12th December, is the last day that you can order a bodysurfing handplane and guarantee delivery in time for Christmas. We'll still be taking orders for them over the weekend, however, and can also post out any workshop gift vouchers, hoodies, t-shirts and accessories up until Monday 22nd December in case you leave your Christmas shopping as late as we do. Workshop gift vouchers for handplane and bellyboard days are now...
We set off from the workshop in the half light of dawn, and managed a glimpse of the waves at Porthtowan as we headed up the hill on our way north....
It’s getting cold out. There’s no getting away from it when you find your wetsuit boots covered in a thick layer of white frost on the...
Sometimes a great swell coincides with a busy week of work, and there's nothing much that you can do about it. It's a great problem to be faced...
Last weekend we headed up to the inaugural Bristol Surf Film Festival, held on Saturday night at The Cube Cinema, to watch the British premiere of...
Last Friday afternoon James got up from his chair, climbed the short set of steps up onto the stage at the Brighton Dome, and delivered a talk to a thousand people at TEDxBrighton 2014. The title of this year’s TEDxBrighton was Many Hands, and the conference explored ideas around connectivity, convergence and community with James discussing how the "Build-Your-Own" workshop courses that we run here strive to reconnect people with the making...
Our friends over the hill at Surfers Against Sewage have had another great year in 2014, mobilising thousands of beach users in their spring and...
Not many twelve year olds can say that they built a wooden surfboard in their half term holidays. Alex can, though.
Who'd have thought that you could pack an exhibition into a medium-sized hold-all bag? As we planned our exhibit for the 2014 London Surf / Film...
