During the first weekend of October 2025, Lost Shore Surf Resort hosted the 5th edition of the European Wooden Surfboard Meet, a non-competitive and non-commercial event that aims to gather the most environmentally conscious surf craft makers in Europe to share knowledge, ideas, and designs about how to make surfboards more sustainably.
The European Wooden Surfboard Meet was first organized in 2017 by Sergi Galanó from Flama Surfboards who, after attending the Wooden Day in Australia, wanted to bring something similar to Europe, where a significant community of wooden surf craft makers exists.
After being organized in the Spanish north coast for a number of years, the 2025 edition came to Scotland for the first time ever, and it was the first time that the event happened in a wave pool. Although this could be seen as a contradictory move, Sergi, Job (from Jabalí Surfboards), and Alejandro (of Marshall Handplanes), the event organizers, wanted to create a paradox to bring more attention and relevance to what the European Wooden Surfboard Meet aims to achieve.
Editor’s Note: This article was written by Alejandro Padró from Lost Shore as event host, Sergi Galanó of Flama Surf, and Job Verpoorte of Jabali Surfboards.
In their words, they wanted to see if the latest paradigm shift – wave pools – was an opportunity to rethink surfing. To review and reflect on what we’ve been doing for the last 100 years, both as surfers and as an industry, and how all of this fits into the challenges, climate, and social, of the 21st century.
With around 30 surfboard makers (from several European countries and the US) and 82 wooden surf craft gathered for the weekend – the biggest edition so far for the European meet – the outcome of the event proved that wave pools can be a melting pot of ideas and a catalyst for change in the surfing industry. Never before in the history of the European Wooden Surfboard Meet makers had they had the opportunity to spend a whole weekend together, not only sharing knowledge but also testing surf crafts in consistent, perfect surfing conditions. The event also had the privilege to welcome Mike LaVecchia, a Maine-based maker and industry icon who has been leading the wooden surf craft revolution for more than two decades.
An additional benefit that organizing the European Wooden Surfboard Meet at the wave pool brought was the opportunity to engage with hundreds of visitors of the resort, making them aware of the environmental challenges of surfing and showcasing solutions presented by the people making them possible. A wooden surf craft exhibition was set up, films were screened, inspiring talks took place, and for the first time in history, the wave pool was filled to its maximum capacity exclusively with wooden surf craft during the Wooden Hour Sessions on Saturday and Sunday.
The event also offered other activities inspired by wood; a flamenco concert and class, where music is created with wooden instruments, a painting workshop, and a live painting exhibition, both on wooden canvas, which made the event very enjoyable and accessible for hardcore surfers and the general public alike. There was also a throwback to the past: an Alaia – the traditional Hawaiian surfboard – was shaped during the event, bringing all the makers together in a collaborative process.
One of the event’s surprise highlights was turning professional surfer and Portuguese Vasco Ribeiro, in his words, into a “wood surfer” after testing a couple of wooden shortboards. Vasco joined one of the two Wooden Surf Sessions, and this was his feedback: “Let me tell you something; I think I’m going to retire from PU surfing and I’m going to become a wood surfer. This was amazing, I have to say I am very surprised, I was not expecting this. I am happy. Happy to share the waves with so many guys and everyone so… stoked!”
In all, the paradox that Sergi, Job, and Alejandro created with this event revealed that, despite being controversial, wave pools can be places where special and meaningful events happen, even being far from the ocean, beyond having an amazing experience with perfect surfing and great hospitality. New things will always appear to challenge the status quo, but it’s in our hands to find ways to use them towards a positive outcome. In this particular event, Lost Shore Surf Resort was turned into a hotspot of what surfing is really about: culture, art, sustainability, and having fun!
Andrea Molina, Oxbow-sponsored rider and long-time wooden surfboard advocate, was able to express her experience during the European Wooden Surfboard Meet:
“I have a hangover, and I haven’t slept because our flight left Edinburgh at 5 am. My psoas muscle is sore from surfing so much, from trying new moves in the waves. My heart is overflowing with the most important thing: LOVE. For surfing, for the people who surf and/or shape boards just for the love of the art itself. This weekend has been a return to the origins of surfing: getting together, celebrating the miracle of the waves, sharing ideas, knowledge, passions, adventures… How curious that it has to be a wave pool that generates this togetherness. And that in the sea we lose our way and are guided by our ego and the desire to catch as many waves as possible. Surfing is a dance, requiring an open mind and a flexible body. Let’s get back to that!”
The European Wooden Surfboard Meet was a unique happening for everyone involved, connecting people, sharing passions, celebrating surf, art, and craft, and it showed the positive role that wave pools can play in surfing, which is very exciting! Stay tuned for the next one, wood is good!
Located near Edinburgh, Lost Shore Surf Resort, is Europe’s biggest wave pool, powered with renewable electricity, and it has been the first facility of its kind to embrace Yulex, a natural rubber alternative to neoprene, for its rental wetsuits. – Alejandró Padro.
