Surfing Guide to Sands Beach, Santa Barbara.

Sands Beach

Sands Beach is just north of Coal Oil Point in Santa Barbara. You can park somewhere near the corner of Camino Majorca and Del Playa Drive, near UCSB. From there you can easily follow the trail along the bluff and take the path down to the beach. Head north until you go around the obvious point and your there.

Sands Beach, Santa Barbara - From Satellite The sand is not pearly white as say, Carmel Beach, just so-so. If you go, there will probably be plenty of kelp in the water and dried kelp on the sand. The surf is a mix of sandbars and rocky reef. Most of the rocks are at the south (east) end but there are more scattered about as well. High tide is generally best. Sands picks up a little more swell than the surrounding area so it's the place to go when everything's tiny.

I have surfed here when everything else looked very small, as in barely longboardable. I came around the point and there was a noticeable increase in size. Not from tiny to huge, but from 1-2ft before the point to 2-4ft beyond the point. Enough to make for a smallish but fun session under sunny skies, which was a nice break from the fog back in Pacifica. I was in town for a wedding and wasn't sure I would surf anything given the small swell forecast, so I was glad I packed the surfboard.