Darcy De Clouett is a 17 year old shredder from Coledale on the Coal Coast of NSW, North of Wollongong. His dad Christian is a great all round surfer who is extremely supportive of Darcy’s growth as both a well rounded human and travelled surfer.

So far in 2018 Darcy has enjoyed an eventful year travelling to PNG with The Perfect Wave back in January, South Africa for the WQS events in May, NW Western Australia in June, and then the Mentawais aboard the Oasis with Walshy and Browny in July, all whilst completing his HSC!

Darcy’s dad Christian travelled to the Mentawai in early July with the younger lads, Christian was around the same age as Darcy when he first went there. He always has and still does rate the whole island chain as epic.

Darcy described his first trip, “As well above my expectations, we were aboard the Oasis, it was a sick boat with good food. We had a great crew, including the legendary Anthony Walsh, Cronulla grom shredder Jay Brown and a bunch of other good surfers of mixed backgrounds but who were all there to share an epic trip. They were all good guys.”

Darcy continued, saying, “The waves were amazing, we scored solid swell conditions and surfed most breaks relatively uncrowded. Greenbush, Macaronis, Rags right, HT’s, Lance’s Left just to name a few.”

“It was so cool to meet Walshy, he’s pursued a career path that I would definitely love to be able to pursue. There was lots to learn and he’s so good at what he does. I will definitely take that away from the trip.”

Jay was ripping, he has a good repertoire, he’s a mate from near home, we have done comps and some travel together.”

“I’ve been lucky enough to do a few trips with The Perfect Wave now, I feel travelling is my calling and I like to combine my love for surfing with my other passions, diving and fishing. I scored some good underwater footage whilst in the Ment’s , it has clear, warm water with coral reefs and some deep drop offs.”

“Dad and I caught a couple of fish too. Dad goes back a way with Benny Horvath the Marketing Manager at The Perfect Wave. Dad did a bunch of Indo trips with Horvath’s magazine – Underground Surf – back in the day with Mark Newsham.”

Where to next… “Well I’m obviously interested in doing a lot more surf travel. I’m thinking NZ, Morocco and Europe– places like Portugal are on the radar.

“I’m planning to complete Yr 12 and I am already linked to a school based apprenticeship in Marine Composites, I am working with DP surfboards and plan to jump aboard any travel options that come my way.”

“I’m hoping that I can follow what I love to do career wise, I don’t really thrive in a structured environment, I like to be free ,to go my own way and I love making clips that are high quality by working with talented photographers which also exemplify the location, the environment I immerse myself in.”

Words by Ben Horvath.
Photos by Andy Potts.