No One Surfs Like Da Hobo

Kobo (Da Hobo) is cut from rare cloth.

Dad sells Lambos. Uncle is Ryan Burch. Nana’s an old-school South Bay scrapper — fuck around and find out. He’s one of the few who can muscle bombs at Banzai and then wring every last droplet of jus from a two-foot Greenmount runner.

The 22-yo from San Diego lists Skip Frye and Carl Ekstrom as shaping influences; and Steph Gilmore and Bryce Young as his emergency Australian contacts. When he’s home, he tweaks out in Resin Craft — the factory Joel Tudor and his Japanese godfather Kazu opened.

He’s made two EAST cameos so far: an asymmetrical Butt Plug for Shaun Manners, and a “control-panel-ly” Patrick Star for M Feb. Truth is, he could be the EAST star if he felt like punching the clock. Zoom in on his footwork going right — he nearly curls his back toes over the rail. Rasta-spec finesse.

Recently, Kobo parted ways with longtime sponsor Volcom and signed with Kiwi-owned, London-based upstart Always Do What You Should Do — short, sharp, frenetic apparel running at the speed of light. They’ll print a low-rez Kelly Slater headshot (watermark intact) on a tee and somehow make it tasteful.

This clip? Mostly animals. If you’re short on time, scrub for the buried J-Bay, Indo, and Snapper treasure. If you’re not, let the slow burns test your patience. At least the music’s good.

I’m a big Kobo fan. Here are some of his recent surfing highlights.