Sandspit Surf Guide

Sandspit Surf Guide

Created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the breakwater finger sticking into picturesque Santa Barbara Harbor works magic with the local sand flow, arranging those precious grains in such a fashion that they transform ordinary lines of swell into insanely hollow rights that can either peel on and on, or dump squarely onto your back, depositing you straight into the oh-so-shallow bottom. Most surfers think that Sandspit only breaks on the biggest of winter swells with that crazy backwash, chocolate water and frightening double-ups, but you'd be surprised at how many days it's surfable.

Here's how Sandspit works: a set will approach the breakwater, hit the backwash, jack up right in front of some craggy jetty boulders and spin off down the line. The takeoffs are ridiculously steep and are often outright airdrops, so paddle into them like mad, hop up as soon as you can and look to pull-in from ground zero. When conditions are ideal, the wave is a straight tube, nothing else. No room for carves, reentries or floaters. Visualize Kirra, but on a smaller, colder scale. But it's also a dangerous place to surf. Not only is the bottom extremely shallow and the lips are like jackhammers, surfers have been known to get washed over the breakwater and deposited in fetus position on the other side. Watch that backwash.