Winningest ever surfer Kelly Slater deepens relationship with the majestic turtle!

“Tao” is “turtle” in Thai.

The turtle is, by every measure, an exemplary creature. A symbol of steadiness, longevity and wisdom. Significant and ancient. Researchers in the Levant recently uncovered one of the oldest religious artifact ever, a 37,000 year old turtle. Hinduism and Chinese mythologies depict the turtle holding up the earth on its strong and handsome shell. Various Southern African and Native American folklores share similar themes.

Kelly Slater is, then, in good company when it comes to turtle appreciation. The 11-time world surfing champion dressed up as a turtle, once, and released a sandal with turtle shell/moon markings. The press release read, “Kelly was particularly moved by the mysterious and special relationship between the moon and the sea turtle. Turtles hae 13 large scales that represent the 13 lunar cycles in each year and 28 smaller scales that represent the days in each cycle. As a tribute to these coexisting forces, Kelly designed the top of the sandal to mirror the moon’s surface while the bottom sole to represent the turtle’s scales.”

Buy turt-moons here.

Even better than honoring the turtle with a sandal, Slater, it appears, has gone one better with the birth of his son. The baby boy was introduced to the world almost a year ago, now, the 53-year-old telling Barton Lynch, “We got a little boy and my friends think we’re playing a game with him because we haven’t said the name. Because we actually, we actually don’t call him anything. We gave him a name for his birth certificate but, as of now, we don’t have a name to call him. So, we’re kind of just, like, letting him figure out his personality.”

Well, it appears that, like papa, little baby Tao, as the name was revealed to be after many months of anticipation, shares his father’s personality.

While many assumed the name to be related to the venerable Chinese philosophy, an eagle-ear’d listener to The Grit! Podcast shared that “Tao” is also “turtle” in Thai.

Now, this could be considered a fun coincidence except Slater’s main business, Firewire Surfboards, are manufactured in Thailand.

So there we have it.

The rounding of the shell.

Listen for more talk about Italo Ferreira’s new perfume venture here.