The wave whisperer: N.J. surfer finds novel way to profit from sport Published: Sunday, May 27, 2012, 12:00 PM Updated: Sunday, May 27, 2012, 3:48 PM

The wave whisperer: N.J. surfer finds novel way to profit from sport

Published: Sunday, May 27, 2012, 12:00 PM     Updated: Sunday, May 27, 2012, 3:48 PM

LAVALLETTE — Sam Hammer understands the ocean. The waves, he knows, are generated by distant winds traveling thousands of miles before reaching shore. Gust speed and the depth of the water intensify the swells. He searches for the ideal interval between waves — 8 to 10 seconds.

Hammer, a professional surfer, never underestimates the power of the ocean. It is boundless, he knows. But he has found a way to measure it, to sense it. They say he speaks to the ocean.

The process begins in his kitchen in Point Pleasant, two miles from the nearest shore. On his laptop, he studies weather patterns, monitors buoy size and swell direction and pulls up live surf cameras on dozens of beaches. His life is devoted to pursuing waves across the world, to chasing the ultimate swells.

Dozens of surfers in New Jersey can claim some degree of pro status, but none have been able to cash in like Hammer, those in the surf industry say. He is sponsored by five major companies who cut him a monthly paycheck and keep him outfitted in the latest surfing gear.

Rather than compete in contests across the world, Hammer, 33, is almost exclusively an editorial surfer — his earnings based on his surfing images appearing in print or online. The greater the exposure he gains for his sponsors, the more money he can demand. He is equal parts pro athlete and professional model. Staying atop the swells is crucial, and he has to look dynamic while doing it.

"That’s my job," Hammer says. "That’s how I make my money. You figure out where the best waves are going to be, and that’s where you go."

He isolates the path of storms, anticipating their dying out, their roaring into manageable swells. Then he sends out an alert to his photographers. With the seasons, he heads for the best opportunities, be it Casino Pier in Seaside Heights in fall or Puerto Escondido, Mexico, in summer.

His goal is to create the most vibrant image.

Ten years ago, he spent a month bobbing on a diesel engine boat off the coast of Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands, riding waves of deep turquoise. Earlier this year, he visited Unstad, Norway, to surf against a backdrop of whitecap mountains. His prescience with swells has made him a cult figure in New Jersey surfing and beyond.

"He’s got some kind of relationship with the ocean," says Mike Gleason, one of Hammer’s surfing acolytes from the Jersey Shore. "When that guy paddles out, every good wave will come to this guy. It’s, like, the weirdest thing you’ll ever see."

SIZING THINGS UP

Three wetsuits hung over a railing on the front porch of Hammer’s ranch-style house on a recent morning. Inside, he studies his computer screen.

"Cape Cod actually looks really good today," Hammer says.

He was up at 6 checking buoy readings from North Carolina to New Hampshire. He looked first at the wave interval. A time shorter than 8 seconds means the waves are too choppy; more than 10 seconds points to more drawn-out waves that aren’t ideal for surfing. (The interval translates differently away from the East Coast.)

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerSam Hammer is currently the most recognizable name in New Jersey surfing, a Lavallette native who carved his own niche in pro surfing by shunning competitive contests in favor of chasing big waves and shooting pictures for his corporate sponsors. He walks to the water before paddling out one morning in April.

Hammer also noted the direction the swell moved on the buoys. Swell direction is critical to good surfing, but difficult to define with hard figures. He relies on experience. A beach facing due west might produce mushy waves with a western swell; the same beach could surf great with movement from the southwest.

"You look and you remember where it was good that day and put it in your memory bank," Hammer says. "The next time the buoy readings are similar, you know where to go."

The discovery of a monster swell — from Cape Cod to Panama’s Bastimentos Island — typically prompts him to pack his red Chevrolet Suburban or grab the soonest flights. Even spur-of-the-moment trips are almost always paid for by his sponsors.

"Sam’s very proactive," says Steve Clark, a marketing director for Billabong, a clothing retailer and Hammer’s chief sponsor. "A lot of kids, you give them a salary and a paycheck and they want to hang out with their girlfriend and they don’t want to travel. Sam takes his job very seriously."

He added, "There’s nobody that does it like Sam Hammer."

He worked at a wooden table in his kitchen, the walls decorated with exotic masks from Mexico. In his living room, underneath a 42-inch flat-screen television installed on the wall, is a 125-gallon fish tank filled with bright-colored South American cichlids.

Hammer wore blue jeans and an untucked flannel shirt. He has blonde hair, which he wears tousled and messy, surfer-style. His skin is bronzed, suggesting the color of bourbon. His eyes were red and irritated by specks of sand from the previous day’s surfing.

"Surfing bought this house," Hammer says. "I feel lucky."

He would not say how much he earns in salary, though he often receives bonuses for magazine displays — ranging from $600 to $9,000.

On top of Billabong, Hammer has contracts with Skullcandy (a headphones company), Electric Visual (sunglasses), Dakine (surf accessories) and Dan Taylor Surfboards. He has been featured in documentaries and several dozen online videos, and he has competed in ESPN’s X-Games.

He owns and operates the Hammer Surf School, which Billabong sponsors due to its relationship with Hammer. The sessions service hundreds of campers of all ages, including adults, on the beaches in Lavallette and Spring Lake.

"From surfing alone, I’m happy," Hammer says.

There was a time when he traveled nine months a year, chasing waves from continent to continent. While he is away less, this year he has already been to Costa Rica, Nova Scotia and Norway. Come the hurricane season in early fall, when the Jersey Shore waves are strongest, he can stay home. 

BOOGIE BOARD BABY

He grew up 100 yards from the ocean in Lavallette and was at the beach from birth. He surfed for the first time on his boogie board when he was 6. At Point Pleasant Beach High, he surfed before school and skipped lunch to paddle back into the ocean.

"I just liked being able to go fast," Hammer says. "I loved the freedom of it. I felt like I could do whatever I wanted out there and there was no one to bother me."

When he was 13, Hammer won junior contests along the East Coast. He was sponsored by Pirate Surf, a company that gave him free T-shirts and board shorts. "That was awesome," Hammer says. "If I got a T-shirt, I was pumped."

He says he learned a business approach from his mother, Louise, and his father, also named Sam. They opened the Crab’s Claw Inn restaurant and bar in Lavallette 33 years ago and built it into a Shore institution known for its tuna nachos, Buffalo calamari and bar scene. Hammer cleaned soft-shell crabs, painted walls, bused tables and watched his parents build relationships with workers and customers.

"We tried to teach him about respecting his career," Louise Hammer says. "It came with responsibility. ‘This is your business and you have to treat it like a business.’ "

The day after high school graduation, Hammer flew to San Clemente, Calif. That November, he moved to the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii and spent five months surfing legendary waves such as Back Door, Pipeline and Rocky Point. He learned to scale the face of the wave with greater speed. He perfected sharper turns as he navigated larger swells than he had ever seen.

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerSam Hammer wipes out while surfing at an area known as 'The Pit' in Long Branch.

After two years and moderate success in competitions, he had little money to show.

By age 21, he had veered from the typical surfing path.

"Other guys from New Jersey had the contest mentality," Hammer says. "I didn’t. I was getting publicity just from shooting with photographers nonstop.

"I found a niche and ran with it."

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Hammer stood behind the oval bar at the Crab’s Claw Inn on a recent evening pouring pints of Budweiser, glasses of chardonnay and mixing martinis. He tends bar every so often to help his parents.

A stranger paid his tab and gushed about one of Hammer’s online surfing videos.

"It was awesome!" the man said.

Hammer has taken in the aroma of clove farms in Indonesia. He has walked flawless beaches in Fiji and Tahiti. And still, he is drawn to home.

Some days, when the urge to chase does not growl so loud, Hammer grabs his surfboard and heads for Jersey City Avenue in Lavallette. It is the break where he first learned to surf. He paddles through the ocean and bobs in the sea. He has been to nearly every significant surfing beach in the world. But this is where he feels most in tuned with the ocean, most at peace.

He has tried moving to California three times. He never lasted.

"I was always drawn back," Hammer says.

He has spent his life on the chase for the perfect wave and the perfect shot, but the surf he discovered first still pulls him close.

Matthew Stanmyre: mstanmyre@starledger.com