How my Journey Started

I'm Taj. I’m 20 and from Gold Coast, Australia.At the age of 10, my family made a bold decision—we sold most of our belongings, closed my parents’ yoga wheel business, and set sail on a six-month adventure aboard a worn-out sailboat. (I don’t know how the boat was still floating, but thankfully, my dad is good at fixing things. Otherwise, that boat would have been on the ocean floor a long time ago.)

Little did we know that this adventure would stretch into almost 11 years, taking us across oceans and continents. We started on the east coast of Australia, then explored a large part of Asia, spending our days scuba diving, spearfishing, surfing, and adventuring—just enjoying life.

Although at times traveling full-time can be difficult, I feel it has allowed me to not get trapped in the box of who people think I should be or how I should act. Instead, I’ve continuously been allowed to grow my mind, nurture creativity, and dive into what I’m passionate about.

After nearly 8 years on our old concrete boat, we decided to leave her in Indonesia. And through a crazy—when I say crazy, I mean uncertain—chain of events, we ended up on a new boat. We decided to take a leap. We left our pretty run-down boat, which had definitely served us well but had seen better days, and bought a boat in the U.S., San Diego—sight unseen—planning to fix it up.

Thinking we’d have it ready in a couple of months, we quickly learned otherwise. Nearly two years later, after having our boat hauled out in a boatyard in the hot Mexican desert of Sonora, we finally got it somewhat ocean-ready.

Now, we’re back in the water. We’ve sailed the Sea of Cortez and all over Mexico. I’m currently in El Salvador, and after hurricane season ends, we’ll be making our way down the coast to Panama—then through the canal to the Caribbean—ready for plenty more adventures to come.

Around the age of 12, I discovered my passion for art, design, business, technology, and health optimization. I started commissioning T-shirt designs, logos, and paintings for the sailing community—with some help from my family’s YouTube channel. This led me to run a successful little freelancing business while we adventured across the globe.

Now, nearly seven years later, as I continue to grow my business and develop my artistic style, my focus has shifted toward collaborating with brands and fully refining my paintings—embedding in each piece the story and journey of over a decade living on the sea.