Watch: Albee Layer’s Best Of Jaws (So Far)

Around two months ago Albee Layer suffered a serious head injury surfing Jaws. Since then he’s only surfed a handful of times—once regrettably at Jaws—and has spent much of his time off in hospitals and seeing medical professionals.

Yesterday Jaws received it’s first big swell of the new year and Albee was only able to watch from the cliff tops. There’s no telling exactly how long Albee will be out, but it’s likely to be for some time with no guarantee he’ll ever return to previous form.

To look back and reflect on the countless hours he’s spent at Jaws Albee compiled his best waves into the six-minute edit above. He also penned a few sentences about his reasons for doing so below.

First off please watch this on something bigger and louder than your phone!

Recently I suffered a head injury at jaws. It’s a month out and we are still not sure how well I’m recovering. After talking with several doctors the basic analisys is if I continue the next 5-10 years like I have the last 5-10 years I am at very high risk for CTE and other brain related complications.

I was already planning to make this edit but it came at a very important time. Going through several years of highlights and slams has helped me start to look at some big questions, mainly is it worth it. Are the highs of surfing this wave now, worth the physical and mental pain its very likely to cause later in life, and… I HAVE NO IDEA. I wish I did but I don’t. I’m sure like everything in life it’s about finding a balance.

As of right now I fully intend to get back out there and redeem myself but I also know if I make a few more of the same mistakes I’ll end up not being able to do a lot of the things I love to do, or surf “small” waves good again.

So this edit is basically my own form of therapy trying to figure out where to go from here. I do know I wouldn’t trade the moments I’ve had so far for anything in the world.