Committee of Rais
Ottoman and Berbers adventurers, coming respectively from actual Turkey and Maghreb, were excellent sailors between XV and XVII centuries. The Westerns called them pirates and they really were pirates! Not more than Andrea Doria and the Knights of Malta, this is clear. We can say that during some centuries whole generations of adventurers, soldiers, ship owners met and competed in the middle of the sea, showing extraordinary courage and temperament, becoming the protagonists of the main nautical history ever seen.
The Islamic captains of that period were called “Rais” and operated both under the ottoman Emperor control and as pirates on their own. Among them solidarity was the main rule: they helped each other, they shifted change, they gave support to all the others. Both while “hunting” as “entrepreneurs” or acting under the Ottoman sultan command, they were always informed and coordinated, they kept in close contact through continuous connection missions, they were always ready to stand by each other.
Inspired by them, we decided to set up a Committee of Rais, a team made of all the captains, the seconds-in-command and aspirant seconds/captains, who are responsible for conducting the boat Mediterranea along the several miles of its route. They are the actual Mediterranea sailing crew, men and women who dedicate their time to the boat care and management, to crew and equipment, swapping on board in the different stages of the journey, acting as routiers when they are not on board, studying the weather forecasts and informing their firends on board about warnings and urgent news, managing customs formalities and bureaucratic items, facilitating the contact with land and sea national and international authorities and institutions, dealing with the research of protected areas, managing maintenance activities, bunkering, provisioning and so on.
But not only. The Committee of Rais of Mediterranea is also engaged in training activities concerning sailing, aiming to share the right values of the Seafaring, the respect of the rules and environmental protection, which are the basis of the project. They attend periodically to nautical training and they teach sailing to those who come on board. They write about sailing topics on media and social networks, they study, promote and talk about sailing, navigation and sea, searching for that “seamanship “, which seems now lost in those who sail and navigate, and has to be recovered and preserved absolutely.
Undoubtedly, they are one of the main souls of Mediterranea Project.
Here they are (not in a specific order):
Rais Simone Perotti. Writer and sailor.One of the founders of Mediterranea Project. “Mediterranean Sea has always been the centre of the world. We have to stop just talking about it, in an adoring way, or ignoring it, as most people does. We have to live into it, we have to live it, know it inside out. I sail in the Mediterranean Sea to search for the questions I don’t have so far”. www.simoneperotti.com
Rais Franc
esca R. Piro. One of the founders of Mediterranea Project. “A journey always begins with a start. It’s most beautiful moment. The boat leaves the port, the lines on the ground, the gaze towards the horizon. You await. You are waiting to be outside, to feel the wind and to raise the sails. And come back the words of Joshua to Bernard Moitessier: ‘Give me the wind, I’ll give you miles’”.
Rais Nunzia Siragusa – “Steal the money, steal the memories toobut always leave her sweet curiosity” (Francesco De Gregori, Atlantide)
Rais Giuliana Crimella – (…) The Mediterranean is not just geography. Its borders are neither defined in space nor in time. We do not know how to determine them and how: they are irreducible to sovereignty or to history, they are neither state nor national: they resemble the chalk circle that continues to be described and erased, that waves and winds, enterprises and inspirations enlarge or shrink. Along the coasts of this sea passed the silk road, the paths of salt and spices, of oils and perfumes, of amber and ornaments, of tools and weapons, of wisdom and knowledge, of art and science. The Hellenic emporiums were both markets and embassies. Power and civilization spread along the Roman roads. Prophets and religions have come from Asia. Europe was conceived on the Mediterranean (…) [Pedrag Matvejevic]
Rais Tommaso Abeltino – I chose to sail for pleasure, to learn, to know. And I realized I can’t live without it, since at sea one knows others and himself better than anywhere else…
Rais Dominique Neubert – The sea and sailing have always been part of my life. I couldn’t live without them. The Mediterranean is my sea.
Rais Laura Giusti – Because we have chosen to be here with a purpose and it is our right and duty to respect it … as the sea teaches us, as the best teacher of humility and awareness. Be water … to find that deep connection with yourself for others.
Rais Valentino Vogliotti – Sailing is an “adult” passion for me, chosen with the belly and I was invested, conquered by it, now it is part of my life right into the bones…for the wind, for the sea and for the people you meet… “long pants carry disease” [Peppe Piccionello]
Rais Giuseppe Amato – My next life is going to be on the sea
Rais Giancarlo Antonacci – Progetto Mediterranea Mediterranea is not just a project, but a symbol, a dream of extraordinary people, one that came true. When Mediterranea arrived in Genoa I felt shivers on my skin, I received a wave of positive energy from all those people around me. From that time I felt at home. And here I am, I put myself on the line, I want to feel part of this dream that continues.
Rais Laura Donzelli – I met the world of sailing a bit by chance and also by chance I met the world of Progetto Mediterranea and I immediately found myself in tune with it.
A wonderful adventure made of sea, sun, wind, people and respect for everything and everyone, where you can learn and share.
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Fino al 2023
Rais Francesco Nacinovich. Freediver, fisherman. “I was born and I grew up between Istria and Quarnero’s islands, in the eastern Adriatic. To me, the Mediteranean Sea reppresents the only nation I want to belong to. Hence I am setting the sails and and starting this journey to meet fellow Mediterraneans, to listen to their stories. And, above all, to learn. By the sea and from the Sea, the ultimate master.”
Rais Luisa Tomasi – Always be like the sea which, breaking on the rocks, always finds the strength to try again (cit. J.M) – From the sea I learned to look inside myself and believe more in myself.
Rais Luca Gatti. “Because to encourage our own passions is a good way of living.”
Rais Andrea Laghi – Emerging from the engine room… because the Rais takes care of his boat as if it were his mate and his crew as if they were his family.
Rais Cristina Sampiero – For me, going to sea is realization as per the dictionary: the translation into effect of what constitutes desire.
Rais Alessandra Ricci –“As you set out for Ithaca
hope that your journey is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
(…) not expecting Ithaca to make you rich.
Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey.” [Ithaca, Kostantinos Kavafis]
Rais Stefano Mattozzi – I was born in a seaside town, Barletta. Could this be why every time I see the sea my heart opens up? It is nice to trace a route, to follow it together, with harmony, helping each other in everything. Joining the coasts of the Mediterranean with a line that is immediately canceled, a first step towards the union.
Rais Lea Masserey – The sailboat is not only a means of travelling between places and people, but more than anything a home and at the same time a friend that takes me from adventure to adventure to the rhythm of the wind; a school of life that makes me grow.
Rais Filippo Mennuni – If you don’t do what you’re called to do, what kind of man are you? Attending to the disintegration of the Mediterranean and of absolute values or acting and being there? That’s all…
