{"id":5903,"date":"2020-09-21T21:16:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T21:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transitionproductions.com\/?p=5903"},"modified":"2025-12-02T23:02:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T23:02:07","slug":"formula-drift-returns-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transitionproductions.com\/?p=5903","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It Was Never on the Table To Quit Big Wave Surfing\u2019: Albee Layer Talks Brain Trauma, Recovery, And Refusing to Quit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" By August Howell <\/a>\u00b7 Writer, SURFER<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n

I remember the first neurologist I saw after my concussion,\u201d Albee Layer said. \u201cI told him, I\u2019ve had many concussions surfing, and this one\u2019s by far the worst. It happens in big waves. He\u2019s like, \u2018Just don\u2019t surf big waves.\u2019 And I was like, no. That\u2019s not an option. Give me something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s a quote that sums up Albee\u2019s determination\/obsession to do what he loves, that\u2019s it. Albee\u2019s reflections come from a new video with Rockstar Energy in which the pioneering Maui surfer reflects on some of the highs and lows of his career.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What sets this video apart is that it showcases the bleak depths Albee went to after his injury. Most surf content in 2025 focuses on the high notes, and it\u2019s easy for pro surfers to talk themselves up and show how great their lifestyle is. It\u2019s much harder to reveal the dark side and the ugly, painful work of working through a bad cycle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two or three years after that was the worst I got at partying,\u201d Albee said of the time period after his horrific concussion during the 2019 Jaws contest. \u201cBecause I was in a lot of pain mentally and reaching for that stuff was something that numbed me. I was not myself a lot of the time. Depression, I had full mental breakdowns at times. It got to the point where I wanted to hurt myself. It was bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

During these difficult years, Albee got treatment and sought help from other people who\u2019d gone through head injuries, including former big-wave world record holder Shawn Dollar. The Santa Cruz surfer shared a mantra that helped Albee gain some self-awareness and put his issues into context: \u201cIt\u2019s an injury, it isn\u2019t you.\u201d<\/p>\n

These days, Albee is more grounded and appreciative of his surfing, his friends and his mental health than ever. He hopes that sharing the difficulties in his life may help someone else going through hard times.\u00a0His friends know how influential Albee can be, whether it\u2019s nudging them into a set wave or changing the progression of big-wave surfing and aerial maneuvers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlbee was about two years younger than all of us,\u201d said his lifelong friend and sparring partner Matt Meola. \u201cBut he charged harder than everybody and he was always trying to surf these crazy waves. I feel like he\u2019s still that same guy. Honestly, a lot of the heavy waves we\u2019ve surfed in our career, those sessions wouldn\u2019t have happened without Albee motivating everyone and telling everybody it\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By August Howell \u00b7 Writer, SURFER \u00a0 I remember the first neurologist I saw after my concussion,\u201d Albee Layer said. \u201cI told him, I\u2019ve had many concussions surfing, and this one\u2019s by far the worst. It happens in big waves. He\u2019s like, \u2018Just don\u2019t surf big waves.\u2019 And I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5903"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6602,"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5903\/revisions\/6602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transitionproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}