SURF CULTURE
Jamie has been at the helm of Dick Pearce Bellyboards for a decade, after he and his business partner Andy bought the company in 2010 - although bellyboarding itself has been around for nearly 100 years.
Bellyboarding – which originated in Hawaii – arrived in England in the early twentieth-century. Influenced by what their Commonwealth comrades had told them about, British soldiers returning from the trenches of the
First World War brought back ideas about the narrow wooden boards we know today, and they soon became an intrinsic and much-loved part of British beach culture.
Charles Pearce, who initially ran a manufacturing business from a small workshop in South Molton, was
where all the boards are cut, boiled, bent, sanded, sprayed and screenprinted, using an original template that's been used for over 70 years. The team also use a lot of hand tools and original equipment from the Pearce family, which Andy inherited when he bought the business. “It's a very dusty process in the workshop, but we love it,” says Jamie.
The company also uses the traditional bending racks that have been used in board-making for generations, and have created around 10,000 boards in their time. “They're rough and ready and all the boards come out with different bends, but we like that because it makes them all individual and gives them their own character,” says Jamie. and re-introducing people to this form of wave riding.” Passionate surfers themselves, who learnt to surf using bellyboards, Jamie explains how the life in Newquay - both personal and professional - is tied to the sea. Their workshop is right in the heart of Newquay, between Fistral and Towan beaches, and both Jamie and Andy often nip to the beach for a surf at lunch or after work to wash off the dust.
“I've got very happy memories of learning to surf on my grandparents' bellyboards from the sixties,” remembers Jamie. “The boards are still in the shed to this day, with the original (faded) logos on them. Bellyboarding was, for both of us, where our love for the ocean began. Our boards are lovingly produced to last a lifetime, and we hope you'll pass your board on to the next generation, just like ours were passed down to us.”
Jamie, who lives a few steps away from Fistral Beach, and surfs nearly every day, says that for him part of the magic of the business is being part of a community of makers and creators who are passionate about what they do.
“I do find Cornwall an inspirational place to be. Bellyboarding is the earliest form of waveriding in Cornwall – it's great to continue the tradition of making and riding boards here on our beautiful beaches.”