11-Time World Surf Champion Kelly Slater Announces He Has Gone Vegan

Surfing's greatest ever champion has gone vegan! Kelly Slater, who has won an incredible 11 world titles, announced on his Instagram story this weekend that he has been eating a fully vegan diet for nearly a month.

Alongside a photo of a freshly cut papaya, Slater wrote:

Been vegan nearly a month now. Feeling good. Much better digestion and variety of healthy foods eating this way.

The Florida-born surfer, who has around 2.1 million followers on social media, already started his days with almond milk smoothies, according to VegNews, but has only now cut out animal products completely. And the motivation isn't purely about digestion. Slater has previously said that he “want(s) to become vegan due to the treatment and slaughter of the most defenceless and innocent animals on the planet,” as Stab Magazine reported.

He joins a fast-growing crew of plant-powered surfers. Two-time world champion John John Florence said last year that he had been enjoying a vegan diet, and Rob Machado, Carissa Moore, Nikki Van Dijk and Tia Blanco are among the other pros who have swapped meat for plants at some point in their careers.

Surfing at the very top level means hours in the water, constant travel and a body that has to bounce back from wipeouts on some of the heaviest waves on the planet. If the most successful surfer in history thinks plants are the way to fuel that, it's hard to argue.

We first wrote about vegan Tia Blanco dominating the surfing world back in 2016. Since then the momentum has only grown: going vegan was predicted to be the biggest food trend of 2018, Nike promoted a vegan diet in its latest advert with NBA star Kyrie Irving, and The Game Changers documentary has just premiered.

Welcome to the club, Kelly. Surf's up, and it's powered by plants.