Wood, Water
& Waves
A wooden surfboard, grown from an island tree, built in the open.
Wood, Water & Waves
A wooden surfboard, grown from an island tree, built in the open.
Wood, Water & Waves
A wooden surfboard, grown from an island tree, built in the open.
One summer. One board. Grown from a single Nantucket tree and built in the open air, from soil to surf.
The board is shaped by Rich Blundell — co-founder and former chief designer and builder at Grain Surfboards — using an innovative new Strip and Feather method that refines the technique he pioneered. Over the season, the build becomes a gathering place: a slow, public craft that draws watermen, neighbors, and anyone curious enough to wander in off Cambridge Street.
The soil that fed it. The rain that swelled its grain.
The water it will ride. The wave that is older than memory.
One board, made from all of it.
Cut, shaped, and finished entirely by hand.
No molds, no shortcuts. The log is milled into strips, feathered along their edges for a seamless glue-up, and worked over the frame plank by plank until the hull takes its shape. What emerges is hollow, light, and strong — a board that carries the whole story of the tree it came from.
A summer of shavings and sawdust.
A season of coming together around the board.
The Zen of Wood, Water & Waves
Waterman conversations on craft, the ocean, and the art of paying attention.
Yoga & Meditation
Grounding sessions by the harbor — breath, stillness, and salt air before the surf.
Community Days
Open shop days to watch the board take shape, plane in hand, all summer long.
Where every board is headed.
A wooden surfboard built in public over one summer, from a single local Nantucket tree.
Strip and Feather — an innovative hollow-wood technique refining the method Rich Blundell pioneered at Grain Surfboards.
Banh Pho Surf Shop, 1 Cambridge St — downtown behind The Gaslight, across from the Nantucket Atheneum.
Hollow, hand-shaped, and finished by hand — light, strong, and made entirely from the island tree.
A story about craft, place, and slowing down.
Wood, Water & Waves is a summer-long build with strong visuals, a clear cast of characters, and a timeless island setting. High-resolution photography, build footage, and interviews are available for feature stories and social features.
Rich Blundell
Co-founder and former chief designer and builder at Grain Surfboards, Rich pioneered hollow-wood surfboard construction and developed the Strip and Feather method. His work bridges craft, ecology, and the wonder of the natural world.
Patrick Broemmel
Patrick hosts the build at Banh Pho, his surf shop in downtown Nantucket. A gathering spot for the island's watermen, Banh Pho anchors the season's conversations, community days, and shared salt-water culture.
Let's make it.
Commission the story, join a gathering, or come watch the shavings pile up. The door is open all summer.
omniscopic@gmail.com