The first reason it was tedious was that I tried out a new cake recipe, and it was not good at all - i mean, it was good but it was hard as a rock after taking it out of the fridge, so I chucked it and I ended up making a sponge cake with chocolate buttercream filling. I think I over baked the sponges though, so next time I will have to not keep it in the oven for as long.
Second reason why it was so tedious was that the fondant figure is wearing a wetsuit! which means that I can't make "clothes" to cover up any mistakes or anything. I ended up cutting out a general shape, and then working it with my fingers. It was a modeling chocolate/fondant mix, so that was also a different thing I tried on this cake. I did make sure that the skewers were long enough and went through the whole cake, so the figure doesn't topple. Also was able to use a skewer to get the surfboard to stay up as well.
3rd reason it was so tedious were the waves, but it's also what makes this cake so awesome. I had just got these impression mats, and there was one that looked like waves, and another one that was just horizontal lines that I thought would add an additional dimension to the waves. I also ombre'd (is that a word?) some fondant, blue and sea green for even more depth. Each side of the cake is different, very cool :)
i used light brown sugar as sand, and took some white butter cream to make a wave border around it, like the froth that comes up against the sand. And then - I STEAMED IT! gave it an awesome sheen and helped stick everything together. finish with a twisty rope border and voila!