Back to the roots
- Raissa Teles
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
We didn’t move to the sea just for fun, or simply to follow a crazy dream.
There was a genuine calling, a desire to remember what we have forgotten, to learn from a master without an ego: about ourselves, life, and the great mystery.
We explored different vessels of all sizes. And in the end, what truly mattered was to be there, surrounded by liquid matter.
Some of the vessels we sailed on and lived aboard
When we were still living aboard Mintaka, but already dreaming of buying a tall ship, we once met a quantum physics teacher in Vitória, Brazil. We told him about our dream. He gave us many tips on how to manifest anything we want in life according to quantum physics, using the power of thoughts, words, feelings, and a lot of consistent practice.
The day after this cosmic meeting, the same man gave us a present: a drawing of our future vessel.
A big red boat, surrounded by magical symbols, blessed by the Divine, carrying one name: Volans. (Read the full story here)
Mintaka was the name of a star.
Volans is the name of a constellation, meaning Flying Fish.
It made sense: if our dream was to welcome more souls aboard and sail the world, then a single star had to become a constellation.
Years later, after studying in Enkhuizen, we realized that buying a tall ship would actually take us far away from our original dream, and a part of us thought Volans would never exist. Maybe it was just a naïve fantasy, one of those dreams that inspire us but never really happen, just a spark that life gives to set something else in motion.
Not attached to the destination of this dream, we kept listening to what was truly alive in us.
Wanting to go back to the roots, we remembered how it all started: the moment I received the ultimate sign that I should move to the sea, back in January 2018, was when I first stepped onto a Polynesian outrigger canoe.
It touched me so deeply that I felt like I had been there before, maybe in past lives, and that something in me was calling to return, again and again.
I then took Christof to feel that same strong sensation of belonging.
He got hooked just as much, or even more.
The canoe was our initiation, a remembrance of the medicine of the sea.
After years of sailing and not paddling, we decided to buy a sailing canoe, learn how to do both at once, and maybe navigate like Moana.
While our canoe was being built in the shipyard of our friend Cauê in Bahia, we wondered what name to give her.
Christof asked for suggestions from the leader of an Indigenous tribe we had once visited.
He answered without hesitation: “Pira Veve, which in Tupi-Guarani means Flying Fish."
Of course.
It all made sense again.
Another piece of the puzzle in the sacred game of life.
Pira Veve, our Flying Fish, arrived to show us that Volans exists. Not as big as the drawing our friend from Vitória made, but also red, and definitely full of magic.
Pira Veve: Vessel of Reconnection
She has seven meters of hull, no engine or electronics, two outriggers, one mast, and one sail.
She can take us to surf, paddle, and sail.
She invites us to rediscover the power of simplicity and intimacy with nature.
She offers the chance to celebrate the raw experience of being at sea: carrying very little, using our bodies and strength as the propeller, together with the winds and currents, searching for the perfect flow of being one with the sea, with the canoe, with each other.
She is a constant invitation to learn how to navigate like our ancestors, touching the water, reading the waves, and listening to what nature wants to tell us.
Last month we did the maiden voyage with Pira Veve and baptized her as tradition asks: with fresh water (where the canoe comes from) and salt water (where she is going).
Blessed by the words of friends and teachers, and by the breeze of the sea, we left the beach of Itacaré for a two-day sail.
By the way, let me tell you a bit about the surfing as well...
“According to Polynesian culture, surfing a canoe is the ultimate experience of the true watermen.”
The feeling of catching a wave with a canoe is pure bliss.
It takes four people with grounded presence, paddling beyond their personal fears, making the right maneuvers at the right moment, listening to the canoe, to the sea, and to the orchestra created by each crew member.
I don’t remember feeling so much adrenaline in my life, not even skydiving or crossing the Atlantic for 31 days.
I don’t want to compare bananas with apples, but unlike any other vessel I’ve been on, Pira Veve brings together three of the main gateways I know for reconnecting with Nature.
Through each of them, I come closer to understanding some of her qualities, such as resilience, patience or humility, the same virtues that many spiritual paths invite us to cultivate.
The gateway of paddling: teaches us the qualities of rhythm, resilience, strength, synchronicity, and flow.
The gateway of surfing: teaches us the qualities of presence, deep listening, courage, surrender, and trust.
The gateway of sailing: teaches us the qualities of patience, intuition, timelessness, and freedom.
Some people go to a church to meet the sacred; I go to the sea.
It doesn’t matter if it rains or shines, if the wind blows, the sea is flat, or the waves are wild: we are always exposed to the elements, becoming part of the dance of what is real, letting go of control, and embracing movement as the only constant.
Because the sea never lies.
And when aboard Pira Veve, who we think we are becomes insignificant.
The feeling of vulnerability before this vast, powerful home is the greatest teacher of humility I know.
A Temple and a Playground
Pira Veve will be our vessel for spiritual adventures in this pure and simple way of navigating, camping by the beach each night, making bonfires, eating the fish we catch during the day, and connecting with local communities.
She will be our chance to untame ourselves a little more each time.
To bring us back to our centers whenever we get distracted by the immense noise of modern life.
A reminder of simplicity, a value we want to anchor our choices and lifestyle around, to live in greater harmony within and without.
For us, from now on, Pira Veve will be both our temple and our playground.
Each paddling stroke is like a prayer, the repetition of a mantra reclaiming our ancestral power.
Surfing and then preparing for sailing after the baptism
The discomfort, the physical effort, the energy flow, all are aspects of true rites of passage that can help us heal and feel the Divine within ourselves and in every breath of life.
We will use our Flying Fish to also invite others: artists, healers, scientists, business people, anyone drawn to this same path.
After all, it is a canoe for four people.
Each voyage will be an artistic expression of our inner quests, exploring what it means to be alive and bringing the big questions we all carry into a new perspective.
Are you one of the four?
Welcome aboard our new Pirate Vessel.
PS: We’re organizing our next expedition with Pira Veve, from Camamu to Serra Grande, in Bahia, from December 21st to 28th 2025. If you’d like to join us for this journey, or any of the future ones, please send us a message.
If you’re still unsure whether the sea is calling you to join us, watch this video:
Acknowledgments
A huge thank you to Cauê and Pp, the two amazing athletes who were with us aboard, teaching, guiding, and sharing their strength.
And a special thanks to Cauê and Core Va'a, who built our canoe with so much love.
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