"I feel bad for making Billy feel bad. We all know he rips but I think the judging should change."
Don’t you love a little controversy in your sport and men, and it’s always men I’m afraid, who don’t hit the self-censor button as a default?
Earlier today, as reported here, the lovely Billy Kemper, whose beautiful big eyes are filled with an emphatic warmth like a passerby mourning a car-hit deer moved to the side of the road, won his third Jaws Challenge.
Afterwards, Billy thanked his deceased mom and the world rejoiced etc.

When contacted, Albee said,
“God, I’m kinda over it. I feel bad for making Billy feel bad. We all know he rips but I think the judging should change.”
Albee added, “I’m sick of being the one that says what most people are thinking. I don’t think there should be high scores for incomplete waves.”

Gotta claim it at the end with a chestbeat to get into the excellent score range.
Yes!!!
Well
What about the totally absent of class, politeness, education, to involve a third person who has directly nothing about the case?
Grow up moron, be a man, and this has nothing to do about criticize the contest, it’s about the fake attitude of her calls including the other guy.
The Stranglers and The Cure; two of the best concerts of my (long) life. Fuck, there was some good music in the 80s!
I would tell Albee instagram isn’t always platform to let all your feeling out there. Pretty disrespectful to a best friend. Must be really difficult being such a shot caller.
Agree 1000%….they had to reward Kemper charging, but no way can those scores come close to excellent surfing, especially when Kai was doing what he was doing. It’s not like Kemper was the only one going and the rest of the field was sitting in the channel. His high score was 8.07, now compare that to Kai’s completed tube which got an 8.33?!?!? Are you kidding me? Should be 1.5-2 point difference in IMO. Give Kemper a 7 for the effort and guts, and give Kai an 8.5 for a beautifully surfed wave. Shoot, Tyler Larronde’s completed tube scored lower than Kemper’s….
thats a classic in any era
regardless of the quips, the only pro surfing final i’ve watched in entirety all year. And watched again and again.
Incorrect Albee. Kemper’s almost-makes were heavier, more exciting and required more skill than Kai’s makes.
He’s right.
Good on ya, Albee.
And he’s right, right? Certainly on the basis that big wave comps should be judged over the course of a day rather than in heats, and they absolutely should be.
Refreshing talk from a professional sports-creature.
Albee Layer blowing the judges exercises
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I’ve got boardshorts that vaguely look like that!!!
#suxdegreesofseparation
Does anyone want my autograph?
Looks like there are channels on the front but are there any channels on the bottom ? Sign here ………… CB
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Thanks champ for glowing in the dark and making my day-glo .
Believe it or not, that was done on a free app I got for my daughter to draw on when bored, out. The app is called “Doodoo Pad.”
Honest. Look it up,
silly temper quip. you don’t think?
I do.
I love me a good bit of Spoonerisms.
Can we forgive him for having a big mouth when pumped up with adrenaline? I hope so.
Ah, surf contests… always bringing out the best in people.
Difficult call. W$L is judging it as a “spectator” sport. Kemper’s long long tube then literally spat out was sick and far more spectacular than Lenny’s wave where he did a lovely take off and two very good turns. Lenny did make a tube but both Kemper’s tubes were hollower.. ??? its up to the surfers & W$L to decide what they want to focus on…. Layer wanted to surf the previous day but more conservatively… “”I think part of the reason is that there’s quite a few people who charge a lot harder than their talent.” Albee continued. “There’s a way to go surf today and be relatively safe. It’s just when you get too many big egos in a heat… like that first heat just pushed each other too deep right away.”
I still feel that you need to ride out of a barrel for it to be scored as a barrel ride.
I reckon getting spat out on board or not kinda counts for something. Billy was never making his tube in the first heat where as twig was pretty much there. Either way 100% respect they both absolute maddogs. They were both waves of a lifetime.
That’s the issue. Kemper and Twiggy packed those barrels in the 1st found. Craziest ever. This must be scored highly.
But who’s was better?
When are we going to. Discuss Kaipo’s inability. To speak like a normal. Human.
He’s got stiff competition from Peter Mel in that area. Dave Kalama, however, was excellent.
Dave was fantastic. He was comfortable and insightful. He should commentate more often.
His dig about the “fun police” having arrived when Pete went off about the rule book was gold.
Kaipo’s dirty Mexican stash was making me cringe every time they went back to the commentator booth.
He’s always about 2 steps away from stacking shelves at Foodland.
Your spot on! it is so painful on the ear with strange pauses and breaths in all the wrong places!
Glad you pointed this out, I really have been wondering why I’ve been stuttering and blanking out recently.
one at a time’s good fishing…..thats what my Grandad always told me.
Disagree, incomplete rides are legit at nutzo Jaws.
You call this an average day??? 99.9% of the commentariat beg to differ.
Yeah isn’t big wave surfing about who’s charging the hardest, make it or not? On the pure gnarl scale Kemper went heavier than everybody else!
Yup, that first heat before it got cancelled on day one was by far the most entertaining and gut wrenching. How they were taking off and getting smoked by those beasts and going back for more abuse. Those drops made me cringe. The rest of the comp left me cold.
My wife ,who is a hardcore surgeon, used to blood and the screams of women giving birth on a daily basis , didn’t know whether to turn away or cheer . Seeing all the competitors hunched over ,heads down suffering on the skis on the way back to the peak ,was a bit like seeing the survivors of a train wreck being saved only to put them back on another potential disaster 5 minutes after the first ?
Tom Cruise and his samurai BFFs charging into the everlasting glory of the Emporer’s gatling gun
two things can be true at once:
1. kai lenny was the standout star of the swell at jaws. could he be the best all-around surfer in the world at present?
2. you’ve gotta reward charging in a contest like this, or else you’ll get “safety” surfing – guys only going when they know they can make it.