Eight surfboards, and a rule that there will never be nine.

Linnhe is Ruaridh Achary’s shaping studio on Rope Walk in Portkerran. Each of the eight models has been redrawn a sixteenth of an inch at a time since 2014, and when a new one earns its place, an old one is retired.

Compare two models Order a board

From: $950
Order to pickup: 7 weeks
Models: Eight, 5′4″ to 9′4″
Boards a year: About 140

A finished white board leaning on the white studio wall — Petrel, 5′4″, clear glass, twin keelsNo. 01

The rails of a clear-glassed fish, close against the white wall — The Petrel’s rails, drawn fuller in 2022 and left alone since.

Fourteen models retired so these eight could keep getting better.

I started with a list of twenty-two boards, one for every request that came through the door. Every one of them was a little bit wrong. So I began cutting the list, and I set myself one rule: the catalogue stops at eight, and a new model has to push an old one off the wall.

That means I have shaped the Skerry around three hundred and sixty times. I know what a sixteenth off the tail rocker does to it. You are not buying a custom board drawn from nothing. You are buying the latest version of a board that has already been through several hundred surfers.

Ruaridh Achary, shaper

All eight, drawn to one scale and stood against one wall.

These outlines come from the same numbers we cut the templates from. Height on the page is length on the board, from the 5′4″ Petrel to the 9′4″ Longshore.

Petrel
5'4" twin fish
Skerry
5'11" shortboard
Gannet
6'4" step-up
Haar
6'10" egg
Machair
7'4" midlength
Storr
7'10" gun
Lochan
8'6" mini log
Longshore
9'4" noserider

PetrelTwin fish

$950

5'4" × 21 1/2 × 2 5/8 in, 33.4 L, deep swallow tail, twin keels, glassed on

Knee to chest high summer surf, when a shortboard just sinks. Wide, flat through the middle and quick down the line.

SkerryShortboard

$990

5'11" × 19 1/4 × 2 7/16 in, 29.6 L, squash tail, thruster, fin boxes

Waist to head high beach and reef breaks. The board most of our riders take out on most days of the year.

GannetStep-up

$1,040

6'4" × 19 × 2 1/2 in, 32.1 L, round pin tail, thruster, fin boxes

Overhead reef days. A narrower tail and five more inches of rail to hold a line when the wave stands up.

HaarEgg

$1,060

6'10" × 21 1/4 × 2 3/4 in, 41.8 L, round tail, 2+1, centre box and side bites

Soft, fat waves, and anyone stepping down from a longboard. Paddles like a bigger board and turns like a smaller one.

MachairMidlength

$1,180

7'4" × 21 1/2 × 2 7/8 in, 48.5 L, round pin tail, single fin, 8 in box

Long, clean point waves. It trims and glides, draws slow turns off the bottom and rewards a patient rider.

StorrGun

$1,320

7'10" × 20 1/4 × 2 15/16 in, 47.9 L, pin tail, thruster, fin boxes

The four or five days a winter when the outer reef breaks. Glassed heavy as standard and ordered by very few people.

LochanMini log

$1,260

8'6" × 22 1/2 × 2 7/8 in, 60.2 L, square tail, 2+1, centre box and side bites

A first custom board for adults learning, or a second board for the smallest days. Stable and forgiving, and still a good-looking thing.

LongshoreNoserider

$1,420

9'4" × 23 × 3 in, 71.5 L, square tail, single fin, 10 in box

Walking the board and hanging five on small, clean days. Flat rocker, soft rails and a concave under the nose.

Prices include standard glass and fins. Any model can be taken up or down in length by up to 4 inches at no charge; the width and foam follow.

Photographed against the studio wall on the morning they leave.

A row of finished boards on the rack waiting for collection — Saturday collections, eleven boards, AprilNo. 02

A dark tinted board with a green stripe standing against a plain wall — Storr, graphite tint with a kelp stripe, heavy glassNo. 03

Pale blue tinted single fins on two finished boards — Glassed-on fins, tinted pale blue to orderNo. 04

Lay any two of the eight on top of each other.

The question at the counter is always how a model differs from the board you ride now. Pick the closest one to yours and the one you are curious about. Outlines, numbers and what each is for.

The Haar is 11 in longer than the Skerry, 2 in wider, and carries 12.2 litres more.

Plan view, nose to the right, drawn from the same numbers we cut the templates from. One foot marked per tick.

Dimensions of the Skerry and the Haar
Measure	Skerry	Haar	Second against first
Length	5'11"	6'10"	+11.0 in
Width	19 1/4 in	21 1/4 in	+2 in
Thickness	2 7/16 in	2 3/4 in	+5/16 in
Volume	29.6 L	41.8 L	+12.2 L
Tail	Squash	Round
Fins	Thruster, fin boxes	2+1, centre box and side bites
Price, standard glass	$990	$1,060	+70.0 USD

What the Skerry is for

Waist to head high beach and reef breaks. The board most of our riders take out on most days of the year.

What the Haar is for

Soft, fat waves, and anyone stepping down from a longboard. Paddles like a bigger board and turns like a smaller one.

Glass is half the board, so it is priced line by line.

Every Linnhe board is laminated in the studio, never sent out. Choose one schedule and add a tint, a polish or glassed-on fins.

Standard glass: Two layers of 4 oz on the deck, one on the bottom, clear resin, sanded finish; Included
Heavy glass: 6 oz and 6 oz. Standard on the Storr, worth it on any board that lives on a roof rack; +$90
Resin tint: Tinted lamination, deck and bottom, in one of the six colours below; +$160
Tint, gloss and polish: Tinted lamination, a gloss coat and a hand polish. Adds four days in the rack; +$260
Volan with tint: 6 oz volan cloth, tinted. Single fins and logs only: Machair, Lochan, Longshore; +$320
Glassed-on fins: Fins laid up from glass and resin in the studio, instead of boxes. Tinted to match at no extra charge; +$120

Six resin tints, mixed by weight for every board

Clear
Resin amber
Kelp
Pale blue
Graphite
Bone

Seven weeks, and three of them are resin curing in the rack.

The wait is the same for every model and every glass job, and the date is written on your order the day you pay the deposit. We have missed it twice in eleven years, both times in a heatwave.

Week 1A half hour on the phone or at the bench
Your height, weight, the waves you surf and the board you ride now. We settle the model, adjust it by a sixteenth here and there if you need it, and take a $300 deposit.
Week 2Shaped by hand on a Tuesday or a Wednesday
Every blank is shaped from the model template in the bay on Rope Walk. Those are the only two shaping days, so the dust stays off everything else.
Weeks 3 to 5Laminated, hot coated and left alone
Glass goes on one side at a time. Tints need a full day between coats. Most of these three weeks the board is curing in the rack, and that is the point.
Week 6Sanded, fins set, signed on the stringer
Boxes or glassed-on fins go in, then a final sand or a polish. Ruaridh signs and dates the stringer in pencil before the last coat.
Week 7Collected, or wrapped and shipped
Collect from the studio on a Saturday, or we ship in a double-wall box anywhere in the country for $95. The balance is due on collection or before dispatch.

The studio on Rope Walk in morning light

A rope works on Rope Walk, one shaping bay and one pair of hands.

Ruaridh trained as a furniture maker and shaped his first board in 2011, in a lock-up garage two streets from the harbour. Linnhe moved into the old rope works in 2016: a long room with north light at one end and the shaping bay at the other.

He shapes every board himself, around 140 a year, and surfs the reef below the lighthouse most mornings before the studio opens. If a model changes, it is because it did something he did not like out there.

Studio: Unit 3, The Rope Works, Rope Walk, Portkerran
Open: Saturdays 10 to 3, weekdays by appointment

A rider walking out with a board on a misty morning

Sample reviews

Three riders, three models, a month in the water.

“I put the Haar over my old 7 foot funboard in the compare tool and it was an inch narrower with more foam up front. That was the whole argument. A month in, I paddle into everything.”
Fenella R. · Haar, 6′10″, tint in pale blue
“The Skerry is the first board I have owned that I do not want to change anything on. Ruaridh took a sixteenth off the thickness because I weigh less than the template assumes.”
Sorley M. · Skerry, 5′11″, standard glass
“Seven weeks felt long until I saw the rack. Nothing leaves early. The Longshore noserides like it has been in the family for forty years.”
Aoife D. · Longshore, 9′4″, volan in resin amber

Start with a model. The rest we settle in week one.

Send this and Ruaridh calls or writes back within two working days with dimensions for your weight and a start date. Nothing is paid until you agree to both.

$300 deposit, balance on collection
Seven weeks from deposit to pickup
Shipping anywhere in the country, $95

(555) 014-2702