Reed Platenius
Born 2004
@reed_platenius
“Surfing is so different from anything else. The feeling of being in the ocean, how impossible it is to control or predict what’s going to happen. It’s pretty addicting. Sometimes it’s this sense of silence. Other times it beats you up. You definitely learn lessons from the ocean. I’m always learning from it.”
Reed Platenius is one to watch. By the age of 15, he was a seven-time national champion—and he’s just getting started. He started surfing at six years old, and was competing by nine. “Once I started to get good, and got a taste for what surfing actually is, and can be, I was addicted. I haven’t stopped.”
Since then, Reed’s passport has accumulated an impressive number of stamps—particularly for someone so young. He’s competed in Australia, Japan, Portugal, Mexico, as well as the old standbys in California and Hawaii. He was on Canada’s world juniors team in 2019 when they place tenth—beating out surf-centric countries like Chile, Costa Rica and Peru. Reed considers that a career highlight, but his eyes are on the future.
“The WSL tour is a dream, of course,” he says. “And the Olympics, for sure. The opportunity to represent your country is something I think all athletes dream of.”
Reed has many dreams for surfing—but not all come with medals and accolades. “One of the things I want to do in my world is find a wave no one has found before, and surf it. There are lots of locations on Vancouver Island that are difficult to access, that haven’t been discovered yet. It’s an adventure, finding these new spots that haven’t been explored really.”
He says this is what he loves about surfing—there’s always more to be done. “There’s always something else you can do. A bigger wave. A better wave. It’s always different, and you’re always discovering.”
