CONTRIBUTORS
Surfing and Rapid Surfing are fun. It is as easy as that to us. We are a bunch of average Euros with the beyond average goal to actually enjoy our time in the water. Hence all of the shapes we develop and use have a few simple ideas engrained. All of them suiting our happy go lucky amateur needs. High performance shortboards are fun, but so are single fins, fishes, twinnies, thrusters and quads in all sizes and volumes. We want to experience all of them and grow as surfers, find new lines on waves and rapids, experience the full diversity in shape-concepts available, catch a ton of waves more and leave serious surfing to serious people, since they might really need it. We are the Otter people surfing.
Board Designs & Shaping
All of our shapes are developed based on personal needs and in community with our surfing and rapid surfing friends. Don’t be scared, the ideas connected to these shapes are always inspired by classic surfing with a little bit of alternative sprinkled on. All of our shapes are tested in the ocean and on rapids. We believe surfing rapids helps us to get things top notch since rapids allow us to intensify our testing time actually standing on board. Hence we gained a lot of experience on how to handle a touch more foam in a shorter outline in the past – with rockers adjusted for drive and concaves for ease in handling and needed release and agility. This constant feedback complements the experience of our shapers in Spain and allows us to progress our ideas and to make them fit for surfing oceanic waves and rapids alike. Trust us, there is a German style method to this madness working with general base principals and scaling rules and ratios to adjustment for specific situations and needs. It is totally rocket science built on hydrodynamics and stupid behavior of fluids over bend objects. We even took footage of it… all for the fun of it!
Board ConstructionS & Add ons
PU – the world’s standard
A polyurethane foam core with a wooden stringer. Glassed in 4-4/4 cloth and Polyester resin. Most likely still the standard you will find in most surf shops on the planet. Standard PU core construction is used as a benchmark for weight judgement of all other constructions available. Use PU or Epoxy resin for ding repair.
Flex is medium, medium-strong rebound, flotation standard, durability good, ding resistance average, plug strength standard.
PPU – Power PU
A polyurethane foam core with a wooden stringer. Glassed in 4-4S/4 cloth with an extra S-Glass layer and more ding resistant Epoxy resin. Box saver for increased shock and break resistance of fin boxes included. Slightly heavier in weight than PU. Use Epoxy resin only for ding repair!
Flex is medium-stiff, medium-strong rebound, flotation standard, durability good, ding resistance better, plug strength increased.
EPS – vulgo “Epoxy”
An expanded styrofoam core with carbon layups for flex design and durability increase. Glassed in a 4-4/4 and epoxy resin (super sap). Lighter in weight than PU. Use Epoxy resin only for ding repair!
Flex is medium-stiff, flotation corky, durability good, ding resistance better, plug strength standard.
Rapid EPS
An expanded styrofoam core with carbon layups for flex design and durability increase. Glassed in a 4-4S/4 cloth with an extra S-Glass layer and more ding resistant Epoxy resin (super sap). Box saver for increased shock and break resistance of fin boxes included. Lighter in weight than PU. Use Epoxy resin only for ding repair!
Flex is medium-stiff, medium rebound, flotation corky, durability good, ding resistance increased, plug strength increased.
EPS RRFLEX
An expanded styrofoam core with carbon rod layups for super dynamic flex design and durability increase. Glassed in a 4-4/4 and epoxy resin (super sap). Lighter in weight than PU. Use Epoxy resin only for ding repair!
Flex is medium, strong rebound, flotation corky, durability good, ding resistance better, plug strength standard.
Box Saver
An additional, extra strong foam bed around the plugs topped with reinforcing carbon patches to prevent plugs from breaking. Mostly used by rapid surfers to save them time working their fin plugs post session. Will help heavy footed surfers to protect twin plugs from extra large fin paddle leverage.
Carbon Layups
Carbon patches on the deck to prevent fin plugs punching through due to repeated heavy usage. Will slighlty increase the stiffness of the tail yet add another to years to using the board.
Step Up Glassing
Reads 4-6 / 4 technically, means that a 6oz layer of glass replaces 1 4oz deck layer. Increases durability by approximately 30 percent. Adds weight that will add stability to your bigger wave experience.
social responsibility
All our boards are made in Europe by people who actually surf. We pay our suppliers the prices they ask for and support their improvement of workforce health protection. We do not apply large scale buying practices and do not intend to grow in a way allowing or asking to do so. We absolutely detest today’s sell-out culture and it’s terrible impact on socio-economical cohesion. Hence we neglect over-production and a low price sales-driven approach. If you find sth. heavily reduced from MOS, it really is an occasion you should use but certainly not a standard.
Sustainability
In today’s standard Surfboards still are a dirty business. Anybody who tells you a different story basically tells you rubbish. Any board produced has considerable CO2 footprint associated. Any material cut or applied is a potential threat to workers and the environment. We are aware of this and are in constant exchange with our suppliers to provide practical and affordable alternatives. However, we fully admit, that we are part of a dirty industry. At least when approached like any other consumer goods industry…
Our best answer is selling boards (PU / EPS) that provide a positive surfing experience and a specific adorable identity. All in hopes that these properties turn our shapes into something of long lasting value and keeps them in use for an extended amount of time by a large number of people.