SoCal Contractor

Darn those = women=20 drivers!

Using all his natural and acquired skills, Seth = Hammond,=20 founder and president of Specialty Crane & Rigging, in Santa = Barbara,=20 took up the highly focused sport of land speed time trials in = 1964. Over=20 the years, he has been clocked at an astounding 278 miles per = hour.

His wife, Tanis, took up the sport in 1986, taking = lessons=20 from Seth. Lo and behold: this year Tanis set two land speed = records, one=20 at 280 mph and the other at 298 mph! For her astounding, = accomplishments=20 she was recently honored as an international woman in racing. The = ceremony=20 took place in Paris. "That was a fun trip," Seth says. The people = in=20 charge paid to fly the car as well as Tanis to France for the = show. "Can=20 you picture a race car on a 747?"

Seth and Tanis, who grew up and became high school = sweethearts in Santa Barbara, share another hobby: both are = helicopter=20 pilots. Seth had been flying his own helicopter since 1985. Tanis = has been=20 flying one since 1990, but is still classified as a student pilot = because=20 she has not taken her final checkride for her license. "She's = involved in=20 other things, and the helicopter deal is not a super priority with = her,"=20 says Seth.

Seth Hammond left his high school sweetheart and = his native=20 Santa Barbara shortly after high school graduation to serve in = Vietnam for=20 two years, 1967 and 68, with the storied 101st Airborne. = Classified as a=20 helicopter door gunner, he was stationed at a place called Camp = Eagle,=20 just below the demilitarized zone (DMZ). He and his fellow crew = were shot=20 down three times. On each occasion, "I never had so much as a = scratch.=20 Isn=B9t that amazing?, "he adds. Upon his return to civilian life, = Seth took=20 advantage of the GI Bill to attend the University of Northrup at = Los=20 Angeles where he enrolled in civil engineering classes and = subsequently=20 earned a license to work on airplanes. He was employed in the = aircraft=20 business for four years before returning to his native Santa = Barbara in=20 1972 to open his own metal fabrication company. After 12 years of = welding=20 and fabricating various types of metals, he began his career in = the crane=20 and rigging business with the company he owns today, Specialty = Crane &=20 Rigging.

It was not exactly a career switch, but more of an = enhancement to an existing business. "I bought a crane in 1984 to = assist=20 me in the fabrication business. At the time, my company had a = contract=20 with another company working with the US Navy. The contract had to = do with=20 an experimental wet submarine=8Ba submarine where you put divers = with dive=20 tanks in it. It's lighter than a typical submarine," he = explained.

"Our contract entailed moving the sub from place = to place,=20 so the crane purchase seemed to make sense."

Midway through the contract, the company employing = Seth's=20 firm ran into hard times and lost the contract. Tough luck? Not = for a=20 fellow who already survived being shot down three times in Vietnam = and=20 emerging each time intact and without a scratch. By this time, = word got=20 around that Seth=B9s company knew its way around the lifting = business. "We=20 decided to put more focus and effort on the crane side of what we = did, and=20 that=B9s how we entered the business," he says.

Today, 16 years later, Specialty Crane & = Rigging owns=20 both hydraulic and conventional cranes: twelve in all =8Bfive = Groves, three=20 Link Belts, two Liebherrs, and two Americans, as well as a = National Boom=20 Truck and a Bucyrus Erie conventional dirt machine. "We use that = for clam=20 shell work, and also for the shoreline reconstruction contracts we = have,"=20 Seth explains. The largest crane the company owns is the 200 ton = Liebherr,=20 purchased two years ago.

Seth's company has performed a variety of projects = locally=20 in Santa Barbara, such as work at the University of California, = Santa=20 Barbara, as well as refineries up and down the coast.

Other projects are as varied as Seth's own career. = "We have=20 a continuing contract at Vandenburg Air Force Base where we stack=20 missiles." These are the real thing folks, missiles that are = actually=20 later fired! Specialty Crane & Rigging was also involved in a = recent=20 lift which tested the firm's technical expertise. It involved a = bridge in=20 Santa Barbara County. "We were required to lower a 60,000 lb. = excavator=20 down a distance of 130 ft. Everything had to be exact because the = bridge=20 has just enough capacity to support both crane and excavator." = Seth=B9s=20 company analyzed the problem, then successfully did the job, using = an 80=20 ton Grove hydraulic crane. A long time client (12 years so far) is = the=20 Diabalo Nuclear Power Plant, at San Luis Obispo.

And then there's the occasional typical job with = an=20 arthritic elephant."Michael Jackson (yes, the Michael Jackson) = owns a=20 ranch in Santa Barbara County, about an hour's drive from where we = are,"=20 Seth says. "The elephant has arthritis, causing him =8Bonce in a = while=8Bto=20 stumble and fall down. Every once in a while, we would get a call = from=20 someone at the ranch to come out with a crane to pick up the = elephant,"=20 Seth says.

A recent out-of-the ordinary job took the company = to Hearst=20 Castle where they did some ground testing for the possible future = location=20 of radio antennas.

Specialty Crane & Rigging employs 30 people. = In addition=20 to Seth, the company=B9s principals include Brett Parish, crane=20 superintendent, a 14 year veteran with the firm. Seth wife's Tanis = serves=20 on the company=B9s board of directors.

The Hammonds have been married for 33 years and = have three=20 grown children. The oldest is Channing, 27. =

Liebherr 200-Ton
 and Grove 90-Ton
 cranes restoring=20
detiriated bank for
 C.A. Rasmussen on=20
Highway 154 in=20
Santa Barbara

Specialty Crane & Rigging placing a = protective cover=20 on a radar dome at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Specialty Crane & Rigging Dismantling an = old tower at=20 Vandenberg Air Force Base where they have a continuing contract = for a=20 variety of work.