Rai Taguchi grew up in Okinawa with his parents, three brothers and three cats. Rai’s youngest brother was born with down syndrome and was in hospital until he was five years old which often kept his parents very busy. Rai took solace in the ocean through free-diving and spear fishing from a young age, which led him to SUP when he was 7. Rai competed in his first ever race when he was 12 which he won, sealing the fate of a future champion.

Although only at the dawn of his career having only gone pro in 2019, Rai has begun to demonstrate his extraordinary potential. In the APP’s virtual event, APP Fast Track, underdog Rai ranked second place beating out the likes of Casper Steinfath and Arthur Arutkin, securing himself a place on the APP’s All Stars trip.