Guiding folks who join us behind our big blue doors during a week of making is our favourite thing to do here at Otter. Our journal is often updated with features showing people making their own wooden surfboards, paddleboards or other wavecraft. If you have seen these articles and wondered how you can send a loved one on one of our courses, look no further! Here is a guide on how you can give the gift of an Otter workshop…
Please get in touch with us if you have any questions. There are a few videos and articles on our website which offer an insight of what happens during one of our make your own workshop experiences, and here is a link to our FAQ’s for even more info!
Surfboard/paddleboard courses run over 5 days, Monday to Friday, and there are set weeks throughout the year when these take place. During the week, workshoppers learn how to make their own hollow wooden surfboards using a skin and frame method, which has been broken down into manageable, bite-sized stages. This enables folks with lots, some or no woodwork experience to learn how to use our tools and techniques, as they are guided along every step of their journey by our expert makers. The journey ends with each workshopper taking home a beautifully handcrafted, environmentally friendly and timeless surfboard/paddleboard which we hope can be surfed for a lifetime and can evoke wonderful memories of a great achievement.
Our other courses for handplanes and bellyboards run for 1 day during various weekends of the year and involve a similar process of broken down steps to follow, often with groups of up to 6 people, culminating in everyone taking home a brand new wooden wavecraft, ready to be taken to the beach at the earliest opportunity!
