Tommy Curren finding a perfect morning tube on a day when Hammonds was flat. Riding one of his last @cisurfboards tri-plane hull twin fins before switching to one of Al’s early Thrusters circa 1982. When I first moved to Santa Barbara in the early eighties, there was prevalent attitude that if Hammonds was flat, if Santa Barbara was flat then the surf was flat everywhere. It wasn’t until I had been living in Santa Barbara for about a month after a really good swell had ended, standing on that early wet morning grass at Hammonds looking out at a seemingly very very flat Pacific, a newly made friend said to me, “I know where, right now, about 30 minutes away, it is 6 feet and going off.” So it began, almost every morning it was flat in Santa Barbara and Rincon, I would make this mere 30 minute drive south and get good waves, often great waves. Having a hard time convincing anyone to go with me, I often had to make the journey to surf by myself. I couldn’t understand it; I grew up having to drive an hour to surf everyday without even knowing if there would be surf. It wouldn’t be until I met the adventurous Sam and Matt George, and then Tommy Curren, and eventually Willy and Steve Morris, Davey Smith, Kim Mearig, Dana McCorkle and gang that I would find true partners in crime, ready to scour the coastline for surfable surf on all those days when Hammonds was flat. The fifth photo has been printed many times and is in my book “Shaping Surf History” and for me represents the payoff of all those miles driving by us in the early eighties. #tomcurren #cisurfboards #shapingsurfhistory #willdriveforsurf #surfphoto #surfstories