Jeff Hazelton
360° Drone Creator
From painting in remote anchorages across the Caribbean and South Pacific, to founding BioLucid — a pioneer in immersive medical VR — to sailing the world today aboard a 50-foot catamaran turned XR studio, my life has always been about one thing: seeing differently.
I’ve crossed oceans both literal and technological: first under sail on a 32-foot boat, and later through the uncharted seas of virtual reality. Along the way, I’ve sought to merge art, science, and adventure into new ways of experiencing the human story.
In 1993, I set sail aboard Vagabond, a small Pearson sloop, with little more than paints, canvases, and curiosity. With two friends, we traversed the Caribbean, slipped through the Panama Canal, and crossed the vast Pacific Ocean — stopping at Easter Island, Tahiti, Fiji, and countless islands along the way.
I painted landscapes, ruins, and lush nature — each canvas not just a work of art, but a way of understanding the world and myself. Those two years at sea were more than a voyage; they were an apprenticeship in perspective and reinvention.
Today, I’ve come full circle, back at sea — but with new tools. Aboard Odyssey, my 50-foot sailing catamaran, the canvases have become VR rigs, 360° cameras, drones, and AI. She’s more than a vessel; she’s a solar- and wind-powered floating production studio, capable of capturing immersive media anywhere on Earth.
From the Bahamas to the Azores, Sardinia to the Mediterranean, every horizon becomes part of a larger narrative: one that blends exploration, art, and technology.
For me, drones are not just machines, and VR isn’t just code. They are brushes in the sky — tools of expression as alive as any paint on canvas.