Are Tradesmen Living Better Surfing Lives Than The Pros?

“Can you imagine any other sport where if someone told you a monster might rip you in half, but probably not, that you’d still do it every day? Doesn’t that speak to how amazing surfing is?“

A poignant question from Albee Layer, this week’s guest on The Drop. Between surfing and spearfishing over remote Maui reefs, Albee is no stranger to shark encounters. Interestingly, despite the heavy grey-suit presence on the island, Albee is appalled at the notion of killing the animals at the expense of human recreation. In his view, the ocean is their turf and has been for millions of years. Should humans cull them so we can enjoy our own water time? Albee says no, but he is curious to hear differing opinions on the Great Shark Debate (coming later today). 

With Shark Week nearing its conclusion, Albee shared his own harrowing tale with evolution’s ace students. It happened while he and Torrey Meister were spearfishing together (it was only Torrey’s third time ever diving).With several fish already skewered, the two were returning to shore when, “I looked up and saw Torrey face to face with a 10 foot tiger shark,” Albee said. “And he’s poking it in the face with a loaded spear gun.”

Even after Torrey poked it in the nose three times, the shark was undeterred by the loaded weapon. It tried to get at him from different angles, like a boxer probing for an opening. Then it swam toward Albee, who dropped his belt full of fish as a diversionary tactic. The animal didn’t take the bait, and kept circling the pair, even as Torrey dropped his first parrotfish. Even as they got closer to the shallower ledge, the shark blocked their escape route. 

“I don’t know the data behind this, but from what I’ve heard from experienced divers on Maui, you’ve got to hold your ground against tiger sharks,” Albee said. “Every time we swam away, it came right back at us. I think Torrey knew how to face a large animal from his bull riding. This thing was very close to knowing what we tasted like.”

Their initial reaction speaks to how these two guys deals with stressful situations at a particular patch of ocean (Nervous Laughter fans will get it). “Me and Torrey just started dying laughing,” Albee said. “It was too funny.”

But the shark’s speed and power was not lost on them. It was toying with them with a mere fraction of its speed and power. Even after making it into a channel, Albee and Torrey had to swim whitewater together, each covering the other’s back, guns out Mission Impossible-style. 

Later in the ep, Albee is quick to acknowledge the talent of fellow Maui surfer Jackson Bunch, who was eliminated in brutal fashion in last week’s Surf100 challenge. As someone intimately familiar with Maui’s litany of wind kickers, Albee is more than qualified to speak on Jackson’s technical chops. 

“He gets most of his clips at a wave we won’t even surf at home,” Albee said. “I went out and tried. He surfs the worst wave at Ho’okipa. Me and Matt went over there after watching all the clips Jackson got there. We tried and were like, holy shit, how does he do this? It was wild. 

“There’s a lot of good surfers from Maui like Imai (deVault) and Ian Gentil,” he continued. “But Jackson is unique in that anything under huge waves he can do as well as anyone in the world. He can do a windshield wiper like no one else, and he can already do a double alley-oop better than me, and that was my whole shtick.”

Despite being known for high-flying tendencies, Albee concludes this week’s Drop with a rather grounding sentiment. No doubt cashing checks as a pro surfer is a sweet deal if you can swing it, but recently, Albee is seeing value in swinging hammers for a living.

For someone like Albee, there are certain obligations and requirements that come with being a pro surfer. Social, video and contractual asks are part of the deal. But for the blue-collar worker, there are no strings attached to a surfing life. There’s a certain work-hard-play-harder ethos that tradesmen carry into their sessions. Because when the job’s done, it’s time to surf and that’s it. Manual labor definitely has tradeoffs (no pun intended), but being your own boss has its perks. Just ask construction worker/laundry kingpin/tube chaser Skip McCullough.

“I’m seeing more of my friends with proper labor jobs have freedoms that the rest of us don’t have in a way,” Albee said. “Even though they are physically working harder, it feels like those of us are so attached to (professional surfing careers). I feel like my freedom is shrinking. It’s just interesting to watch as I feel like the balance is shifting into tradesmen favor in a way, and I think that’s good because hard work should be rewarded.”

Listen to The Drop on the Stab Podcasts channel, wherever you get your audio fix.