Biography

Koby Abberton (born 2 June 1979 in Maroubra, New South Wales), an Australian former professional surfer, is a member of the Australian surf gang the Bra Boys. He rose to local prominence in 2006, when he was found guilty of perverting the course of justice in an incident surrounding his brother Jai Abberton, who was charged but found not guilty of the 2003 murder of stand-over man Anthony 'Tony' Hines. Together with his brothers, Abberton achieved national and international attention in 2007 with the release of a feature-length documentary entitled Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker than Water, written and directed by members of the Bra Boys. In November 2008, Koby Abberton was jailed for three days by a US court after being found guilty of assaulting an off-duty police officer in a fight outside a nightclub in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In 2021, Koby appeared on the TV show SAS Australia. Abberton was born in the south-eastern Sydney beach-side suburb of Maroubra to a heroin-addicted mother and a criminally inclined father (who was not his biological father but instead his mother's boyfriend), living in the "housing commission capital of Sydney". Abberton states that his home birth was not a result of specified choice, but as a method of avoiding the hospital where he says his mother "knew she'd get in trouble for being on heroin". Abberton is one of four children and brother to Jai, Sunny, and Dakota Abberton, all surfers.Abberton describes the start of his career as the time when his "life got better." a disagreement with Abberton's mother's boyfriend, who Koby said when he got home one afternoon, chased him out of the house with a baseball bat. He then chose to re-locate to his older brother Sunny's house. Of the argument Abberton says "I just started crying. He [Sunny Abberton] said "Don't worry, just try to forget about it and put everything you've got into your surfing. That's our way out of this life," and that's when it all started." Abberton pursued his surfing career, going on to achieve sponsorship and international recognition for his abilities and achievements.In November 2010, Abberton was announced as one of 24 alternates to the 26th Annual The Eddie at Waimea Bay, Hawaii. The event was to be held on one day, between 1 December 2010 and 28 February 2011, when waves exceed the 20-foot (6.1 metres) minimum threshold to contend for the US$98,000 prize purse.