Journal
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
During the last week of September, we were joined by Jac, who was celebrating his 21st birthday by making a 5’10 Fetch with us. He travelled to us from West Wales in his pop-top T25 with his girlfriend, Fliss, in which they’d be spending the week camping and dodging the wind and rain that peppered the week. Being autumn, none of the weather stuck around for too long though, and we enjoyed many spells of sunlight streaming through the...
Late last spring we were visited by Chris, Rob and Matt, who were travelling the length of the British Isles documenting makers, producers and...
Last weekend saw our fourth Annual Gathering of Makers, where we invited all the people who have shared a week with us in the workshop crafting their...
The Sunday of the first weekend in September has, for over a decade now, been the day that bellyboard aficionados converge on Chapel Porth beach...
Having somebody join us from overseas for a workshop week to make their own wooden surfboard is not uncommon, but having a completely...
Well not quite, but almost. This past week, Patagonia have been touring the UK showing their latest range of wetsuits; wetsuits that are neoprene free and made up of 85% Yulex natural rubber from an FSC and Rainforest Alliance certified plantation, and 15% chlorine-free synthetic rubber. This is a significant step forwards in sustainable surfing, which has for a very long time revolved around surfboards and peripheral products such as...
A life for me without using my hands, without making, and specifically without making things out of wood is completely incomprehensible.
Last September Mat headed down to the southwest corner of France for a few weeks with his friends from Surf Simply. Because September and October are...
We've spent a fair bit of time over the last month loading and unloading bits of our workshop in and out of the back of our van, as we've spent a...
We like to keep in touch with everybody who has ever joined us to make their own surfboard, and it’s incredible when we receive an e-mail with a...
Robert Chapman (known around the Otter workshop as Rob) joined us last November to make a surfboard as a gift for his son who’s currently living out in Melbourne, Australia. While he was here, Rob told us about a challenge that he was training for; he was planning on running a lap of Wales (his home nation) in a series of marathons over successive weekends to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association in memory of his friend Tony...
It's festival season once again, and with the hope that this year's quota of rain has already fallen on Glastonbury, we're making preparations to...
Our friend Tony had quite the complete workshop experience with us over the first six months of this year; he fitted in sessions and days at the...
The Friday before last, on the evening of June 10th, we held our second annual “Boards, Bangers and Beers” open workshop evening. The weather...
We’ve always been fascinated by those most ancient of Hawaiian finless wave sliding craft, alaias and olos. Without fins to hold them straight...
You don't have to go very far, or for very long, to feel as though you've broken out of your routine and had a bit of an adventure. A couple of weeks ago a few of us headed off straight from work on a weekday evening and enjoyed an overnight camping trip, surfing until it was too dark to see the waves peaking in front of us and then spending the night sat around the camp fire. Rising at first light we broke "camp" and left the beach looking as...
You're all invited. In a couple of week's time we'll be sweeping up the workshop and lighting the bbq outside the big blue doors for an evening of...
We drank a lot of tea during our May “Make Your Own” wooden surfboard workshop the week before last. Marcus and David were with us building...
Two weeks ago, whilst the surfing population of southwest England stared in frustration at the small, wind-blown, waves lapping on their shores,...
