“I Felt My Legs Had Snapped Into 20 Pieces”: Surfing Champ Billy Kemper Felt ‘Paralyzed’ After an Easy Entry Morphed Into Horrific Exit In 2020

Published 12/08/2022, 5:15 PM EST
Surfing may seem like a nice, fun, safe sport, but it has some life-threatening risks. There have been various incidents of the drowning of popular surfers. Moreover, wipeouts are the biggest enemy of surfers. Collision with big waves can also be fatal for surfers. One such major accident with the surfing champ Billy Kemper in Morocco nearly killed him in 2020.
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Billy Kemper misinterpreted the intensity of the wave
On the morning of February 18th 2020, Billy Kemper and fellow surfers were looking forward to a productive day in the Waves. They managed to spend a good time, till Billy noticed a Big wave coming. Kemper didn’t want to let go of the opportunity, as this was the biggest wave of the whole tour. He said, “I could tell this was probably the thickest wave of the whole trip.”
However, the wave turned out to be more intense than anyone there was expecting. Kelly couldn’t keep his intensity and soon got entangled in the fierce force of the water. “It caught my outside edge and as I fell, I went up and over the falls,” he recounted. Kemper claimed that there was a brief period of stillness inside the wave during which he could not distinguish which direction was up.
Billy Kamper got knocked out as soon as hit the surface of the water. Kelly recalled he couldn’t move his body after the impact, though he could see everything. His body was in a state of shock after the collision. Excruciating pain was making things worse for him. “I felt my legs were snapped into 20 pieces,” Billy recalled.
Billy’s rescue became tough for his friends
Everyone out there hurried to get Billy out of the water. However, Kelly’s body could not bear a mild touch. He screamed every time someone tried to lift him onto the jet ski. The slightest movement of the boat was inflicting unbearable pain on Billy Kemper.
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View this post on Instagram A post shared by Billy Kemper (@billykemper)
Billy Kemper had lost all hopes of making it through the miserable condition. However, the champion made a huge comeback. The 30-year-old accepted the situation and took time to mentally prepare himself for getting onto the surfboard.
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When the time came to climb back onto a surfboard again, Kemper felt like a rebirth.