Introducing new grom on the scene, Joshua Karbus. The youngest rider on the Cord team, Josh is 3 x Irish Champion (2 x U12s and 1 x U14s), and took second place at the Rip Curl Grom Search Europe Final. At 13 years old, he’s already been surfing for over a decade, and won his first comp at the age of nine. Hailing from Lahinch on the west coast of Ireland, he spends his time living the grom dream: surfing all day, every day (when he's not at school).
Josh makes winning comps sound easy. Telling us about how he progressed from entering his first competition to now being 3 x Irish champ, he said, “It was a mix of surfing all the time with my friends, watching heats on Youtube, and travelling for competitions in different countries with groms that are better than me and have more experience.”
When the waves are on, Josh is out there. “My favourite conditions are no wind, punchy, rippable waves and barrels, but also super sick air sections and warm water. I’m working on the heavy slabs but every time I try to push my limits.”
“The grom scene is very small here. I mainly surf with my friends. That’s pretty much it.” Whilst the younger crowd may be few, Ireland’s west coast is peppered with epic surfers, both born and bred locals like Cord rider Conor Maguire, and ex-pats who now call the Emerald Isle their home, like our good friend and Aussie hell man Noah Lane. Surrounded by such skilled riders who split their time between dominating Ireland’s waves of consequence and travelling in search of tropical barrels, it’s no wonder Josh is eager to get out there. “This year I’m planning on going to Spain for a competition, and we’ll hopefully make it to Sumatra in Indo, and if everything works out we’ll get over to Costa Rica and Cali too.”
With a bright future and big dreams, Josh explains how his ambitions in and out of surfing are intertwined. “I want to be a pro surfer travelling the world with my friends, competing on the tour, having good times, meeting new people, exploring the world and surfing new spots. I am going to try my hardest to win a world title.” We’re pumped to see what the future holds for this young ripper, and stoked to have him on the team.
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