Journal
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
When making surfboards, accuracy, symmetry and attention to detail are essential considerations. Our wooden surfboards use a skin-on-frame construction method, and in the pursuit of the above James designs each of the Otter Surfboards models using specialist design software and then cuts the parts of the framework (the interconnecting stringer and ribs) around which our surfboards are built using a CNC router (CNC stands for ‘Computer...
Last summer we received an e-mail from one of our friends at Surf Simply; Kerianne, their logistics manager, was spending a summer on Long Island,...
We’ve never hung a Christmas wreath on the workshop doors here, but we thought that this year we ought to make an effort to get into the festive...
It’d be fair to say that we’re fans of a proper tea break here at Otter Surfboards; downing tools for ten minutes a couple of times during the...
Surfboards vary in appearance as much as the human beings that use them; many become a vehicle for expression both in the way that they are ridden but also in the way that they are decorated. But then most surfboards are made of laminated foam, and all start out as blank white “blanks” (the industry term for an unshaped slab of foam) that beg to be personalized with paint because otherwise they’re just a shapely piece of plastic....
We’ve had a rather unusual surfboard stored in the workshop for the past year or so; it’s a twelve feet long replica of a Tom Blake style...
Our final workshop of 2015 has just wrapped up, and it was a great week to finish the year on. Every single one of the “Make-Your-Own” wooden...
Tealing We’d like to introduce all of you to The Coaster, the latest addition to our range and a surfboard that we’ve been struggling to keep...
The British summer holidays are bellyboard season; that time of year when old plywood boards are pulled out of the backs of sheds and garages, dusted...
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 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...
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 stepped into the workshop here last week; Jon, Leo and Matt met each other first thing on Monday morning, and from the outset their relationship was built on a friendly competitiveness. Jon and Leo were both making near-identical 6'10" Jettys on neighbouring trestles, whilst Matt was making...
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...
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...
