Por RedTriangleSurf , 29-07-2008

Hammy's - I love this place definitely one of my favorite spots on earth. The view is beautiful you can see the harbor and sandspit and lets not forgot all the beautiful moms that flock the place. When daddy is at work the moms put on a show strutting around the beach wow. Haha lets not get to off topic here but to get to the surfing part. The surf is fickle I will give it that but with the right tide and swell which Ill let all you figure out on your own the place can get magical...How do you think Tom Curren got good? Local Vibe is the same as any place be respectful and you will get the same respect back.

Por Anonymous , 15-12-2007

Solo session - Way back in '92 I was stayin at the Miramar Hotel with my girlfriend, and I had my board. It rained the first night we were there. But the next morning was clear, so I grabbed my board and walked out to that little "miramar" spot and it was about chest high and clean straight swell. Around the corner looked like bigger, more consistent waves, so we walked about a quarter mile or so to this super fun right reef. Turned out it was Hammonds, and I solo'ed it for about 2 hours. Head high, glassy, and NOBODY else out!!!

Por Anonymous , 17-09-2007

surfer - Ni*!a, please... There's no fuckin sharks around here. While very fickle, Hammonds sure can be good; and what a beautiful view from the lineup. Never will forget ditching school in early '90 with a buddy and SCORING Hammonds with just 2 other people out for hours. Good times.

Por Dawg , 15-08-2007

THEY RAPED SANTA BARBARA - I lived in SB in the 70's and 80's and I surfed Hammonds every swell. It was only 10 minutes from my house on the Westside. The average crowd was 6 guys out. It was more beautiful than surfing El Cap because you couldn't see any roads, just beautiful fields full of flowers. On occasion the Dolfins would come in and surf with us. And I will never forget getting caught inside trying to scratch over and 8 foot set with a Dolfin on each side of me trying to get over it too... or were they playing? Who knows. Santa Barbara used to have a small town feeling about it when I left in 1989. Now it is so overdeveloped and tourist dominated that the locals won't even go down town. Yeah, Jerry Beaver and Fess Parker, the greedy developers wrecked the whole vibe when they tore down old State Street and replaced it with a fake old State Street.

Por Former Hammond's Resident: 1985-89 , 17-06-2007

Lived here, too! - I lived in the Hammond's neighborhood back in the mid 80s. Far from rich, I lived in a converted one-car garage behind The Biltmore. I used to "live" at Hammond's with my Newfoundland "Mo" from about 10AM till 4PM daily: office hours.

Back before the condos were built by the railroad tracks, Hammond's and the meadows were peaceful and spiritual, for lack of a better word, on the old shell middens. You could go and pick wild berries and fennell.

Access at high tide is limited at best. When it's on the surf was fine and uncrowded....this is the place where Tommy Curren grew up surfing. Need we mention George Greenough?

Surfrider Foundation sued for and won a limited access path to Hammond's when the condo builders tried to keep the "undesirable surfing element" completely out.

It was not uncommon to find some legendary show business folk enjoying a walk on the beach there. I was never intimidated by the "Rich" that others have complained about, in fact, most of my best friends had way more dinero that I will ever have in my life.

I loved Hammond's for a lot of reasons. Had I not moved "north" I would have been happy to surf there for the rest of my life.....but the teeming hordes and barbarians from, mostly, LA and OC finally drove me out when I could see traffic backed up all the way past Carpenteria on weekends.

I still visit Hammond's on occasions when I drive south, especially when Rincon is completely zoo'd out.

Hammond's still retains some of it's former magic and on really great days there's not too many finer places.

I mean: it's really ugly, sharky, the reef can cut you up pretty nasty, there's big rocks on the paddle out, the locals are all surely and locked and loaded for trouble.

My advice would be to give this place a wide berth....especially if you have shit for an attitude and have poor social skills in the lineup.

Por Duh , 31-08-2006

- The dude earlier got hassled cause he paddle out into the "heart" of the lineup and took off right away. Well not shit you got vibed out of the water!

Next time you go to an unfamiliar spot, sit on the shoulder and assess the situation first.

I surfed all the spots in SB while in college and never got shit once. It all comes down to respect.

Por coral/hammonds/scl , 13-06-2006

die - all you old fat longboarders/old guys who think they rip on 8'0 merricks surfing here need to chill the fuck out. why crowd the locals here? they spend every day its breaking here, don't they deserve soem respect? go to miramar instead. at least don't act tough on the internet and tell stories about how you could kick any of our local asses. take that shit somewhere else.

Por anonymous , 22-03-2006

sometimes... - when hammonds is good, its usually crowded with all the old montecito longboarders, but u can catch it on a 3-4 foot day with 5 guys out

Por anonymous , 22-02-2006

good spot - this place is really fun. I went there when everywhere else was blown and no one was out. Just me and my friend had the whole beach 2 ourselves until a couple of spongers came but they were pretty cool. Nice place 2 surf but watch 4 the reef becasue my friend broke my fin on it paddling out.

Por anonymous , 17-01-2006

- secret: santa barbara gets over 2 feet approximately 14 days a year. Sweet.