Reef Departures: Billy Kemper

Departures: Billy Kemper’s Jaws Addiction

“I’m never comfortable in big waves. But I think that’s the addiction I have: that feeling when you fight your fear and you basically overcome it.”

March 23, 2017 By SURFER

Think of a guy who’s routinely defanged Jaws, and that’s Maui’s Billy Kemper. But think of the guy who inspired Kemper in waves of consequence, and the story runs deeper than the wins at Pe’ahi.

“My older brother [Eric Diaz] passed away when I was really young,” Kemper says. “He really attacked bigger waves, and I just wanted to be like him growing up. He was this bad-ass, raw, radical surfer. I looked up to him. He was my idol. I wanted to get barreled like he did, I wanted to do turns like he did. He made me want to surf big waves.”

His brother’s courage in big surf started an addiction that took hold of Kemper at a young age, as the Ho’okipa ratpack, including Billy, Albee Layer, Marlon Lewis, and Matt Meola, oriented their surfing lives around Jaws. One day, they snuck out after school without letting their parents know, and Kemper convinced his friends to tow him into 20-foot Jaws on his 9’9″ Matt Kinoshita-shaped gun. “That was our crew,” Kemper says. “Nothing was stopping us from that point on.”

Fast-forward to now: Kemper’s a two-time Pe’ahi Challenge winner, a globally-admired hellman, a small-wave standout, a devoted father and husband – much of that strength is grounded in the high-risk education that Jaws gives to those who invest fully in its lessons, even if you’re a seasoned vet, a class that Kemper has earned. For him, there’s no such thing as comfort at Jaws. It’s only when the sight beyond Kaupakulua Gulch – when that Pacific monster grins at the next N swell – is too alluring to pass up.

“I’m never comfortable in big waves. But I think that’s the addiction I have: that feeling when you fight your fear and you basically overcome it. It’s like a flow state where everything is in control without you really having control. It’s an addiction you can’t explain to anyone else.”

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Reblogged 7 years ago from www.youtube.com

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Comments

Trace the TRUTH says:

25th March 2017 at 1:47 am

Kinda hard to imagine going surfing in the Pacific with all the Fukishima radiation in the water. When are you going to start doing exposes on this? How is the surfing community so silent on this? I mean didn't the EPA stop us from using older resins because of toxicity yet 300 million gallons of water flowing into the Pacific everyday, so fucking toxic less than 40 minutes exposure will kill you. Maybe 25 killer whales left in J pod. Whales, seals, sea lions, EPIC SALMON FISHERIES COLLAPSE, star fish , sardines, sea birds, plankton and krill all dying ,dead, and in some places gone. Where is fucking Tom Curren, or Mark Occilupo? Cheshire, Hobgood, what the fuck Baywatch Kelly ? Are you guys so jaded by your million dollar sponsors that you sew your mouths shut with blood money? How bout all the Hawaiians dying from radioactive fallout and eating contaminated food. Where's your conscious? Are there any real journalists out there anymore with balls bigger than their paychecks?