One moment, 14-year-old Kaeya Gautam is watching the sky turn molten pink, the next, she’s swimming in turquoise waters with turtles and dolphins, salt crusting her sun-kissed skin. A few hours later, she’s battling the wind, securing a flapping sail as the boat she’s in lurches over restless waters. If she sounds like the protagonist of an Enid Blyton book, it’s because Kaeya’s home is a sailboat.
It’s a life most of us could only wish for. A childhood untethered, growing up nomadic, collecting passport stamps instead of trophies, learning from nature rather than textbooks. An existence where curiosity isn’t confined to a digital screen but stretches as wide as the horizon itself. It’s why, when I came across Kaeya, who spends half her life in a boarding school and the other half sailing across oceans with her parents, Vaidehi Chitnavis and Captain Gaurav Gautam, I was—pardon the pun—hooked.
“Kaeya wasn’t always a part-time sailor,” Kaeya’s mum clarifies. It was during the pandemic that Gaurav, a former Indian Navy officer, and Vaidehi, a media professional, decided to trade stability for a life at sea. “In September 2022, when we were considering selling everything we owned and moving onto our sailboat full-time, we had a discussion as a family.” The couple has always believed in raising their daughter with freedom, letting her steer her own course. “We asked Kaeya what she wanted, and she chose adventure over boarding school,” Vaidehi recalls.
The family’s first major voyage from Langkawi to Thailand proved that the teen was built for the ocean. When the engine gave out mid-journey and her parents were knee-deep in grease and problem-solving, Kaeya, twelve at the time, confidently steered the boat, eyes focused, hands steady on the helm. “She navigated as if she had been doing it for years,” Gaurav beams. “It was clear—she belonged here.”
For a year, Kaeya was homeschooled by her parents as they traversed Southeast Asia’s waters. But soon, solitude set in. “Post-COVID, there weren’t as many families sailing with kids as there had been during the pandemic. Kaeya longed for peers and the structure of a classroom,” says Gaurav. The challenge was that the NIOS (The National Institute of Open Schooling) curriculum was also too stringent for their fluid lifestyle.
Eventually, true to their philosophy of letting Kaeya choose her path, they researched institutions aligning with their off-grid, free-spirited way of life. “She picked a school with no uniforms, no mobile phones, a curriculum intertwined with nature, and a deep connection to the local communities,” says Gaurav. Learning wasn’t confined to textbooks but mirrored the way her family lived—immersive, experiential, rooted in the real world. A new rhythm emerged—four months on the water with her parents, the remaining on land in school.
Like other kids her age, Kaeya has had many teachers, but she considers the ocean her ultimate guru. “She’s not just a passenger but a crew member, helping with navigation, preparing meals as a hobbyist chef, assisting in repairs, handling the sails, learning to read the wind, stars and water,” explains Vaidehi. Yet, Kaeya enjoys school just as much. She’s an avid reader, devouring everything from fiction and history to marine biology and autobiographies. “When she joins us, her luggage is mostly books. We even have a small library on board, and she often exchanges books with fellow sailors,” Gaurav chimes in.
Where full-time terrestrials only get to read about different cultures, the Gautams’ peripatetic lifestyle allows them to witness global traditions firsthand. Wherever they go, Kaeya picks up snatches of local dialects, dines with locals and chats with fishermen about their trade. “She even has a scorecard where she logs every animal she’s rescued—so far, she’s at eleven, including birds, cats, dogs, and recently, a baby monkey,” Gaurav smiles.
Raising an adolescent is an adventure; raising one in a moving home is another ball game altogether. But this sailor family has found the kind of balance that allows their daughter to be both rooted and free, structured and spontaneous. Kaeya Gautam has found meaning in the in-between, appreciating the transience of travel and the magic of fleeting but profound friendships. “She has stories to tell,” her father smiles. “In the end, that’s what matters.”
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