All four shapes are drawn below to the same scale, so the log looks as long beside the shortboard as it feels on the roof of a car. On a phone each drawing is enlarged to fill the screen, so the shared scale only holds on a wide one.
Boards
Every board here starts as a conversation and a pencil line on a blank, not as a file.
The four house shapes are where that conversation usually begins. Your height, your weight and the waves you actually surf move the lines from there. Prices run from €620 for a shortboard to €980 for a 9′8″ log, with a clear finish over a PU blank and polyester resin. Expect 5-7 weeks from deposit to collection, and 8-10 weeks from May to September.
Shortboard
Rasa
- Length
- 5′8″-6′4″
- Volume
- Typically 26-32 litres
- Stations
- 11¼″ at 12″ from the nose · 19¼″ at the wide point · 14½″ at 12″ from the tail, as drawn at 6′0″
- Price
- €620
Rasa means level, close to the water. A low entry rocker for the long walls at Ribeira d'Ilhas, with enough lift in the tail to come off the bottom under the lip on the slabs further north. Squash tail and a thruster set-up unless you ask for something else.
Fish or twin
Peixe
- Length
- 5′4″-6′2″
- Volume
- Typically 30-38 litres
- Stations
- 13¼″ at 12″ from the nose · 21″ at the wide point · 16″ at 12″ from the tail, as drawn at 5′8″
- Price
- €640
Flat through the middle and wide under your chest, for the summer weeks when the Atlantic loses interest and everyone else is on the beach. A swallow tail and a pair of keels, with the wide point pushed back so it planes early and still goes around a section when one turns up.
Mid-length
Meio
- Length
- 6′6″-8′0″
- Volume
- Typically 42-58 litres
- Stations
- 15″ at 12″ from the nose · 21½″ at the wide point · 15″ at 12″ from the tail, as drawn at 7′2″
- Price
- €690-€780
The price moves with the length.
For people who want to be paddling into waves before the set has finished arriving, and still turn when they get there. A soft rounded pin, a 2+1 or a single fin, and rocker kept gentle through the middle so it carries speed over the flat bits between sections.
Log
Tronco
- Length
- 9′0″-9′8″
- Volume
- Typically 65-80 litres
- Stations
- 18″ at 12″ from the nose · 23″ at the wide point · 15½″ at 12″ from the tail, as drawn at 9′4″
- Price
- €890-€980
Heavier volan-style glassing adds €80.
Heavy, flat, single fin, made for walking. On a long right peeling down the sand at Foz do Lizandro it is the quickest way to a cross-step and the slowest way to anywhere else. The volan-style glassing adds weight as well as €80, and on a log the weight is the point.
Colour goes into the resin, not on top of it, which is why it lasts as long as the board does.
Construction and finish
| Option | What it is | Price |
|---|---|---|
| PU and polyester | PU blank, polyester resin, clear finish. The standard on every price above.The feel most surfers on this coast grew up with. | Included |
| EPS and epoxy | An EPS blank under epoxy resin, on any of the four shapes.Lighter than the same shape in PU, and it floats a little more. | +€110 |
| Colour | Resin tint, an opaque panel or a pinline. | €60-€140 |
| Fins | Single, twin, thruster, 2+1 or quad, in boxes or plugs. | No extra cost |
| Log glassing | Heavier volan-style cloth on a Tronco. | +€80 |
Pay the rest when you collect the board, in cash or by bank transfer. Boxed shipping within mainland Portugal costs €55. New boards are not shipped abroad.
How an order runs
Five stations, roughly 5-7 weeks end to end, or 8-10 weeks in the summer queue. Nothing is cut until the consultation has happened and the deposit is in.
Consultation
Forty minutes in the workshop. Bring your current board if you have one.
Deposit
40% when the order is confirmed. It becomes non-refundable once the blank has been cut.
Shaping
About a week. Planer first, then blocks and the side lights.
Glassing and curing
About two weeks, plus whatever the queue is doing.
Collection
Free from the workshop, or €20 and Duarte drives it anywhere within 30 km.
Resin does not care about your flight.
What we will not shape
- No copies. Not another shaper's model from a file, a photo or the board itself. Their lines are theirs.
- No foils, wakeboards or kiteboards. Other workshops do them well. This one does surfboards.
- No paddleboards longer than 11′. They do not fit on the stands, or through the door with any dignity.
- Nothing wanted in under three weeks. Shaping, glassing and curing take the time they take.
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