Harris grew up in Athens, Greece. He travelled the seas as an apprentice engineer, in 1992, and graduated from the Greek Merchant Naval Academy in 1997, with a diploma as a Class C Engineer. He then continued to gain experience working on cargo vessels until 2002, and then through passenger vessels in the Aegean Sea. In the Summer of 2003, he passed his Class B Engineering and made the transition into the yachting industry. Since then, he has not looked back and, working on both private and charter yachts has cruised all the famous (and infamous) yachting spots in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Caribbean, Central America and the Pacific. In 2009 Harris passed his Class A Unlimited Engineering Certificate.