Todd Patterson’s journey to making environmentally friendly surfboards has been long and painful. Literally.

He’s a veteran of the first Gulf War, and in the years after his service in the Army’s 82nd Airborne, he felt bruised and battered all the time. At first, he thought it was the effects of his vigorous martial arts activity. Then, as the condition worsened to the point where he had to give up his job at Guitar Center in Hollywood, he realized it was chronic pain associated with Gulf War Syndrome.

“It was tough watching him deteriorate,” said his wife, Emma Stashin. “I was very worried about him.”

He tried prescription medication and homeopathic treatment to no avail. But then he discovered surfing. The time he spends in the water has helped.

“It really has made a difference in how I feel,” Todd Patterson said. “It’s the only thing that really worked for me in treating the pain.”

What’s more, this unexpected therapy led the 41-year-old to start Synergy Surfboards Inc. in Venice. He launched the company with two partners, Trevor Watkins and Greg Provance, when he realized the surfboard industry was in full transformation mode, due to a new emphasis on nontoxic materials. The eco-board movement is still in its early stages, and Patterson found a niche: He’s making short boards, which allow surfers to make quicker turns. Most other startups in the sector specialize in long boards, built for speed on big waves rather than maneuverability.

His challenge is to keep the price low. His boards cost about about 20 percent more than traditional models, which range between $300 and $600. A plus; The partners do all the work themselves.

“We don’t want to make boards only rich people can afford,” Patterson said. “Every surfer should have an eco-friendly board.”

He has already made about a dozen boards and is refining the process. He’s learning about retail possibilities, and has enough orders to keep him busy for the rest of the year.

“It’s really rolling now,” he said. “I have to tell people no when they ask me to make boards. I just don’t have enough time now.”

While the first surfers 18th century Hawaiians used wood, the dawn of the plastic age provided the sport with lighter and more flexible materials.

Board makers start with what’s called a “blank,” which provides buoyancy, then craft a “shell” around it, usually layers of fiberglass cloth with polyester resin brushed on. The blanks used to be made from polyurethane, but manufacturing polyurethane produces toxic gas, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cracked down on the company that made most of the blanks, forcing it out of business. That opened the door to the green surfboard movement.

Patterson made his first board about three years ago, using a polyurethane blank. When he shaped his shell from petroleum-based epoxies and resins, he knew the toxic materials wouldn’t do anyone any good.

Kits for hobbyists

“I did some research and met a few people who were making eco-friendly kits for hobbyists,” he said. “Everyone I spoke to about it said, ‘I’d buy one of those.’ I saw a need for a green board in the market.”

Patterson gets his blanks from a San Diego company called Homeblown, which makes them out of plant oils in a mix called Biofoam.

Then he shapes the shell with a knitted bamboo cloth instead of fiberglass. The bamboo cloth comes from a Philadelphia company called Greenlight, run by Brian Gagliana.

The nascent sector of eco-boards is still small, and many of the players work together. Most of the companies are in California but some are on the East Coast, too.

“We all depend on each other,” Gagliana said. “We can’t do it without each other.”

Gagliana also makes eco-boards and gets his blanks from Homeblown.

Mike LaVecchia started Grain Surfboards Inc. in Rhode Island five years ago. His company makes 100 percent wood boards, just like the Hawaiians did three centuries ago. LaVecchia is in talks with an Australian company that wants to license its process for manufacturing light wooden boards. The company is also getting inquiries from Asia, South America and Africa.

“The sport has come full circle now,” LaVecchia said. “We’re seeing lots of interest overseas.”

Boards sold at surf shops aren’t of the eco-friendly variety yet. Surfboard makers still have exemptions from California laws that ban some of the materials they use.

But the polyurethane cores and fiberglass polyester coatings have long been considered ideal by surfers, providing a combination of lightness, stability and strength.

Patterson said the eco-boards have to perform well on the waves.

“We’re already fighting an uphill battle to sell people on the materials and durability of the board,” he said. “So if they don’t perform as well as a foam and fiberglass board we’re just trying to sell environmentally friendly junk. We have to compete with the best out there.”

He has won some converts.

“Todd makes a good board,” said Chad Bonsac, a pro who was surfed for 20 years and judged local contests. “It’s nearly identical in feel to standard boards.”