Journal
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
The latest news and stories from our workshop, and beyond.
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...
One of the really special things about sharing what we do through our workshop courses is the fact that we almost inevitably form new...
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.
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....
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...
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...
