SEOTY: Australia’s #1 QS Surfer vs. The Sydney Pipeline
Whether it’s the original Banzai or a knock-off, Kobi Clements is not afraid.
“While shooting for this project, we scored some of the best waves Sydney has seen,” ‘Unwritten’ director Joel Barker said. “Kobi’s time in Hawaii really showed out there when his local was imitating Pipe.”
We’re catching Kobi at an inflection point in his young career. If this were a coming-of-age movie, the training montage is now complete, the final conflict is st…
In 2022, Kobi finished 41st on the Australasian QS. In 2023 — 28th. 2024 — 14th. Last year? 8th. But this year, Kobi is sitting in 1st place (with more than 2x the points of the next guy) after winning the Korea Open QS 6000 in a wavepool and then following it up with a 2nd at the International QS 6000 in Galicia.
Despite Kobi’s premier competitive results coming in miniature waves, his best surfing comes out in a very different sort — large, heavy, tubular. It’s a skill set he’s acquired by subjecting himself to Volcom’s Pipe House from a young age.
“I started staying in the Dungeon when I was like 10,” he laughs. “I was pretty obsessed with Pipeline, so I’d spend whole days out there and sometimes not even get one. Eventually I learned to sit at Off The Wall, and then sometimes you get a window at Backdoor between the packs. You scoot over and go for the ones no one really wants, and hope for the best.”
This season, it clearly worked. Koni nabbed a handful of noteworthy waves between squalls and set got well acquainted with boards that would serve him well a few months later — in a much less likely locale.
Just down the road from his family home in South Narrabeen, Sydney.
“I had Southy to myself for two hours on that big day,” Kobi said. “It was just an absolute unicorn of a day.” When we asked filmer Joel Barker how he felt after shooting in the water that day, he responded, “I slept good that night for sure.”
Kobi, who’s the son of 2000s pro Steve Clements and named after Bra Boy Koby Abberton, is beginning to fill the prophecies of another Sydney-based Tour contender. And whether it’s in three-foot chlorine or 10-foot tubes, Kobi has clearly done his homework.
“I kind of want to do everything,” Kobi told Stab. “My main focus is on making the Challenger Series — I’d love to be on Tour. It’s my dream to surf the Pipe contest one day, but I’d love to chase swells too, so I can’t pick one. I’d like it all.”
