The date was February 18, 2020, and the location was Safi, Morocco. The time and place that would have impactful and irreversible consequences of surfing on the great Billy Kemper’s life. However, the trip down there didn’t begin as a consequential one for Kemper and his friends. But the waters of Safi, notorious as they are, quickly turned into a nightmare for Kemper. Let us get into the details.

Kemper and his friends Luke Davis, Koa Smith, and Jerome Sahyoun were enjoying their trip to Safi, Morocco. The waves there is a dream-come-true situation for any surfer, and they were in the waters for many hours. But all it takes is one mammoth wave to turn someone’s life upside down, even if that person is a four-time Pe’ahi surfing champion. The waves don’t discriminate in being cruel to someone.

In moments, it was life or death for Billy Kemper

In a throwback video, Billy Kemper talks on Tiktok, “Boom! Gone! And then I could see, I couldn’t move anything in my body. I couldn’t yell. I couldn’t talk. But I could see perfectly fine. I just remember thinking to my mind I think I am paralyzed”. Kemper recalled the final thing he remembered before everything blacked out for him. But how did that happen? Let’s delve into it.

Billy Kemper and his friends were enjoying the sea waves of Safi for 9 hours at a stretch. They were just ear-to-ear smiles, joyous, and having the best time of their trip so far. Tired Kemper still had tremendous fun that day. Things went smoothly, and they were heading back to their rooms. However, Kemper and his friends had this sudden urge to head back to the waves one last time before dark. And things quickly spiraled out of hand from there.

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They saw the wave from afar and realized it was “psycho”. Needless to say, they went in. And in no time that Kemper went inside the barrel, he could feel there was something crazy about this wave. The wave took Kemper for a spin, up and over, and finally hit the bottom. The wave separated so much sand from water that the moment Kemper hit the bottom, he was knocked out. “Boom. Gone”, Kemper said recalling the frightening moment.

Kemper is living life with a renewed appreciation now

This is when Kemper felt paralyzed. As a surfer, something that was desired i.e. a large wave quickly turned into the stuff of nightmares for the WSL winner. Life and death were separated by a minuscule margin at that moment for him. If it wasn’t for a good-natured Moroccan who pulled him out in time, Kemper would’ve had a far more severe consequence.

This horrific experience gave Kemper a new, fresh perspective on life. He gave up on drugs and alcohol, spends more time with his family, and values the little things in life even more.

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