Eugene surfer tries to make waves of his own with new surfboard technology

Neat stacks of paulownia wood — the raw material for dreams — flank both sides of the entrance to Eddie Rosenberg’s garage in the south hills of Eugene.

“The idea of having a factory in Eugene that’s making surfboards and hiring some people to help, I mean, that’s like a really cool vision, and something that I hope becomes feasible,” Rosenberg said.

Already, Rosenberg, 35, has built a business with FUNNER Surf Craft that defies the odds.

His materials are a far cry from the styrene foam, fiberglass and resin materials used in making most surfboards. Those boards may ride fine, but they lack durability and produce harmful waste as they’re made, Rosenberg said.

In his garage, he shapes and crafts surfboards using wood and 3D printed materials. The pieces must fit together, and each board must also be treated so that it’s watertight. 

“That’s one of these ideas that, like, shouldn’t have worked. But it did,” Rosenberg said.

Durable and sustainable

The idea for what became his business came to him about three years ago, while driving back to Eugene after surfing at the coast. His recently purchased board already seemed pretty beat-up.

Rosenberg began to wonder if he could do something different: “Is there a way to make them where they surf just as great, they remain the same price, but they’re more durable and radically more sustainable?”

Rosenberg said “there’s a few big players” when it comes to surfboard manufacturing. There are also people known as “backyard shapers” who make boards for themselves and friends, he said.

Between those ends of the marketplace, Rosenberg said he knows of only a couple of U.S. surfboard makers using 3D printing — and none who do it his way.

Rosenberg said his initial commitment to buying a 3D printer led him to a quick realization. Using only recycled materials, like used water bottles, didn’t hit the mark when it came to the board’s weight and the user experience. “Nobody would ever want to surf it,” Rosenberg said.

“That’s when the learning curve got a lot trickier,” he said, as he turned to woodworking.

Rosenberg said a great piece of advice he received was that the best woodworkers are those who are the best at fixing their mistakes. “It definitely takes patience,” he said.

“I think it just takes a lot of focus and discipline and the right amount of attention to detail,” Rosenberg said.

The 3D printer, which is fed recycled materials, allows him to craft rails and “really complex curves,” while “super lightweight wood” that’s ultimately laminated creates a board that’s great to surf, he said. 

“To the best of my knowledge, nobody in the world is making boards like this, that’s a fusion of 3D printing and woodworking. So it’s definitely got some Eugene magic to it,” Rosenberg said.

Surfing and business

Rosenberg grew up catching waves off the Florida coast.

“When everything lines up — the waves, the wind, the sun — and you catch a great wave, like, it’s one of those things in life where your brain just turns off, right?” said Rosenberg, whose hometown is Vero Beach, Florida.

“There’s nothing else to think about. You’re just totally locked into the moment,” he said.

Lately, Rosenberg has been locked-in on his business, with 60-hour work weeks the norm.

“If I’m not actively working in the shop, I’m thinking about it, 24/7,” Rosenberg said of his surfboard making.

Fortunately, there’s time for more than work. Rosenberg’s a newlywed, and his wife, Molly, is also a “big time” surfing enthusiast, he said. They recently took a trip to New Zealand.

“We went there mostly to surf,” Rosenberg said.

In the garage, Rosenberg handles the woodworking as well as the 3D printers, plus the branding and filling of orders.

Along with his surfing background, he’s also put in his time in the business world, moving to Oregon in 2015 to earn a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Oregon.

Before going full-time with FUNNER, he worked as a chief marketing officer for a cleaning products company.

But while his shop now has everything arranged just so, the actual making of the boards didn’t start out so smoothly.

Rosenberg had “no background in product design, or woodworking, or 3D printing,” he said.

That meant lots of failure along the way.

“I wish I kept a diary of every attempt,” Rosenberg said, with most of his early tries so obviously flawed they never even saw the water.

“I probably should have quit after the first 10 boards, based on how bad they were. But, I don’t know, I just always had a belief that, like, it’s possible,” Rosenberg said.

He recalled going out to Otter Rock, a few miles north of Newport, with one of his test boards.

“To realize that it worked, that was this, like, incredible event,” he said.

FUNNER boards range in price, starting at $825, according to the company’s website. Rosenberg said he’s sold close to 100 boards.

Surfing in Eugene

If his days are tied up with surfing now, it was time spent in Tennessee, his first job after college in Florida, that made him realize its importance in his life.

“That was the first time in my life living landlocked,” Rosenberg said. In Nashville, he was a 12-hour drive from the ocean, so he knew it wouldn’t be the place he would ultimately settle, he said.

Living in Eugene, driving to the coast to surf began as a mostly solitary pursuit.

“The first, you know, five years I lived here, I was surfing by myself all the time, like, I could not meet anybody who surfed,” Rosenberg said.

Now, it’s a different story, as a surfing community has begun to emerge in Eugene. Rosenberg said he’s now able to ask friends for ideas about the boards he’s made as he pursues a business that’s a true passion, just like surfing.

“So many times, it’s like, you don’t even remember the wave. You just know how you feel as soon as you kick out,” Rosenberg said.

“When you’re doing that, when you get a ride like that, but it’s on a board that I made, and I know, like, why I’m making the boards. I mean, it’s like, it’s the ultimate,” he said.