Where in the world has OV been spotted this summer?

Our first Carbon Duffle is going around the world on Class 40 Gryphon Solo 2 in the Globe 40 Race!

Our first Carbon duffle made by Melissa,  herself, as a special request from a sailor friend is now en route around the world! The Carbon Race Sail duffle was the gear bag of choice for Globe 40 sailor, Roger Junet, who left Portland, Maine USA in May of this year on Class 40, Gryphon Solo 2. Here the boat was packed up ready to head out to the race start, which was held on June 11 from Lorient, France. We’re sure that original sail glow strip helps him sort his gear in the night!

So far the race has included a prologue leg to Tangier, Morocco for the official start and has had stopovers in Cape Verde and Mauritius, where they headed into their next leg; a sail to New Zealand that started on September 11. The race can be followed here and more information on the team and Gryphon Solo 2 can be found on their team website.

To order your own carbon duffle/kit bag for all your racing gear needs:

Upcoming Fall Events - OV’s going on tour!

OV DEBUTS September 15-18, 2022 Newport, RI

Meanwhile, dreaming to be en route racing around the world, here in the Northeast US, OV is announcing our own fall tour -

as we are debuting our collections and display of race sail gear and accessories for the first time out in the world at the upcoming Newport Boat Show. 

Come visit us at our Sponsor Booth, Boatique USA in Tent A-13!

Climate Week NYC

From Newport we are sailing on to Climate Week NYC to be a part of the exciting Marketplace for the Future.

“Marketplace of the Future is a showcase of products and services that are bringing that future into the present,….where circularity, renewable energy, regeneration, and social equity are the norm.” 

Check out what the incredible events around Climate Week and the Marketplace for the Future have to offer!

Blog update: February 21, 2022- This morning Lisa has officially set off on her World Record Sailing attempt solo around Antarctica!

We are thrilled to announce that OCEANUM VELA joins forces with NAUTIBAGS on the global campaign of Australian world-record sailor and climate action activist LISA BLAIR in her second attempt to be the first solo woman to circumnavigate Antarctica nonstop

Behind the scenes of an emerging mission driven business and a world wide pandemic, OV has been working on some exciting business partnerships. Here in Maine, Oceanum Vela, founded by Melissa Kalicin, announces a collaboration with Australian sailor Lisa Blair creating a unique collection of sailing accessories made exclusively from authentic race sails used on Blair’s previous record-breaking campaigns aboard her high-performance yacht, Climate Action NOW. The products are co-designed but handcrafted by NautiBags of Brisbane, Australia, founded by Volvo Ocean Race veteran Stacey Jackson.

The Climate Action NOW collection is set to be released at the time of the scheduled start this February of Blair’s next record-setting attempt sailing solo, nonstop and unassisted around Antartica. The collaboration shares a mission of inspiring positive environmental change while gathering valuable ocean heath data and micro plastic samples. Blair’s campaign aims to educate and inspire individuals and business to take positive steps towards our collective future and business practices that promote a circular economy. The collection will comprise one-of-a-kind products made from Blair’s repurposed sails including “kit bags” or duffels, clutches and totes, each with a custom designed Oceanum Vela’s sewn-in Certification of Authenticity. Proceeds from the sale of the products will be used by Blair’s Climate Action NOW organization to support ocean and climate health education.

“Working with these sailors is the exact collaboration I had in mind when I founded Oceanum Vela,” said Melissa Kalicin. “Lisa Blair is an amazing woman, solo sailor and a model eco-athlete. Nautibags is already creating upcycled sail bags and accessories. Working with and supporting these women who are already doing impactful work is an important demonstration of how we all can work together as sailors, businesswomen, and leaders in the industry. We must ensure our planet is habitable in the future and our playgrounds thrive within healthy ecosystems.”

According to Blair, “Sustainability is key when considering our future so I am thrilled to be partnering with and to launch the new Climate Action Now line with Oceanum Vela.  There are so many ways that individuals and businesses can take a positive climate action but one of the key options is waste less.” 

Sneak peek of Lisa Blair Climate Action Now x Oceanum Vela x Nautibags collection including the medium tote and clutch. Available Soon!

The collection helps raise funds to keep climate action at the forefront of our minds and remind us of the hard work associated with making the necessary changes to keep carbon dioxide levels safe and minimizing our ‘footprint’ on our oceans and forests. Together we ask: What will you do to help curb your carbon footprint?

 To follow Lisa’s Sailing and learn more about her Climate Action Now Campaign, please visit her website,

lisablairsailstheworld.com.

Whereas we are a new startup struggling amidst a global pandemic, we are conflictedly excited to finally have local Maine stores display our repurposed race sail items this holiday- to be sold for the sole purpose of preventing waste in the ocean racing community, contributing to ocean positive causes and providing you with a piece of the race.

The mass appeal to the over consumption on Black Friday makes us shutter.  Consumption is overrated. The result is an overflow of our landfills and overflow of plastic pollution into our precious oceans and waterways which we depend on.

We have a hard time reconciling the message that we want you to buy our products because they are just that, material products.  We hope that bringing you products that are functional, fashionable, repurposed, historically significant, unique and limited edition, and for a good cause will ease our conscious. However, this Friday, we insist that we’d much rather you stay home with your loved ones, turn off your electronic buying devices, go out and explore something outside safely at a social distance, write letters or Holiday cards, and/or Zoom connect with friends you haven’t seen all year.   

On that note, we understand the allure of a great discount on that great thoughtful item you’ve been eyeing the last few months, you have been waiting for a good deal this weekend!  We applaud your patience and hope you have considered the following: whether you really need it, is it good quality, does it support local business?  

We are proud to be amongst other amazing brands leading the way in helping to shift our business models away from gross wasteful consumption and encourage you, our friends to consider, too, your shopping habits this holiday season.  A few things we would encourage you to consider: 

*Buy only what you or your giftees need

*Gift cards can be wonderfully considerate and less wasteful

*What is the item made from? Where? And How?

*What is the end of life destiny of the item? How long will it be used? 

*What is the packaging? How will that be discarded?  

*If you order online with the intent of returning items you don’t like/don’t fit, are you aware mostly likely those returns will be discarded, landfilled or incinerated - and not put back on the shelves?

What other great ideas do you have for gifts, activities, dinners, desserts, and decor this holiday season? More ideas from us and inspiration we found below!

We were thrilled and are thankful that our Volvo Open 70 Camper Tote made the marketing campaign for the 2020 Thoughtful Giving Guide by our friends at the Plastic Pollution Coalition!  We have considered that we simply don’t want these amazingly designed sails that have helped a Volvo Ocean Race team get Round the World from ending up in a landfill. We have also considered that there are other thoughtful, eco friendly gifts that we would encourage you to think about this holiday.

In case you were wondering why we are particularly excited about our Camper sails and EcoAlf’s mission? We loved seeing their brands collaborate last year, it has been part of our inspiration! We strive to work with the sponsors that are on the sails we save and we are in discussions with some global brands aspiring to create positively impactful collections and campaigns! Stay tuned for what’s in store in 2021!

We try to not let you go without some great ocean racer footage, we leave you with the inaugural sail from the Volvo Open 70 Camper prior to the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race start! Check out the fascinating history of The Ocean Race here. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

By Melissa Kalicin, Founder, Director of Business Philosophy

The Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 has its first new boat in the water, as CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand launched its boat for the first sail this week at ...

We were honored to be featured in the new Greensportsblog's "Earth Day at 50" Podcast series, this April 2020! And now we are featured on the French sports news site XC- Sports. The chat still in English and describes Melissa Kalicin’s, the irrepressible founder of Oceanum Vela, sailing journey that led to creating Oceanum Vela- the startup that saves elite racing boat sails from landfill, preserves the history and culture of the races by turning them into authentic memorabilia - bags, duffels, and much more with their story and provenance. Click here to have a listen!

The office of Oceanum Vela is also the boat I live on, Acedia, a Freedom 38. After some isolation due to Covid and spring work on the boat, we scooted up to Portland, ME from our winter berth in Kittery, ME the later part of May. Since the Maine Coast has always been talked up as a highly sought cruising ground, I figured since Covid was wrecking havoc on the rest of the US and we were building business and brand to have our products Made in Maine, it only made sense to sail more north than we had ever sailed together, Acedia and I.  

Soon after landing in the anchorage off East End Park, Portland, Maine, I noticed an absurd amount of floating plastic marine debris!  We were in Maine!  Flip flops, food wrappers, styrofoam, food wrappers, buoys, fishing gear, parts of floating docks, boat shrinkwrap, food wrappers, plastic bottles, oil rags, beer cans, food wrappers, more fishing gear.  I even was able to pull a 55gal black plastic drum out of the water to keep onboard to use a collection receptacle for all this floating by the anchorage marine debris.  It was quite the site and it was incredible, I was able to fill the drum up in 25 days, with just stuff I found floating through the anchorage.

After sitting in fog for what seemingly was for weeks, the weather turned and the forecast was for decent to fantastic winds from the south to make a trip northeast or down east it is called here in Maine.  It had been our mission to get further down Maine when the sew shop that was taking on making race sail products for us closed down due to Covid.  Our sewer, Sam, was based much further north, so we set out to get our materials up to him and start making designs and products for a few orders we had coming in. Mid July, we set out for an incredible 3 day journey to make the commute less relentless.   

We took off from Portland after provisioning, filling our tanks with water, and donating our trash receptacle to the very friendly South Portland Marina who insisted they had fisherman friends who would be interested in the bait trap and barrel.  After a beautiful full day on a beam reach, we first overnighted on Monhegan Island as it was a logical, yet rolly stop as the southerlies are brutal in the island’s only harbor is south exposed. The next day was really memorable as we started heading up toward the islands versus being in undisturbed offshore sailing conditions to be sure we could be back in communication; as our first day out, we had spotty cell phone reception and on Monhegan, there was no way to call in to let anyone we were safe for the night.

What a compromise from being offshore to being with phone service!  We were screaming downwind north of Matinicus Island when we snagged a lobster buoy, it was inevitable in the minefield of minefields of lobster traps! Well, the boat snagged a trap and immediately wanted to round up into the wind but because the sails were so far out, it could only manage a beam reach which made Acedia go even faster as the winds were increasing this early afternoon. As a result, we were heading right toward a small island made up of mostly rocky coast; I seemingly needed to reef and sheet in and steer hard to starboard all at the same time as we were screaming toward these rocks; fast.  Trying to manage to just turn the boat back from which we came to unsnag the trap was failing miserably when my brain said, crap there are no flippin’ brakes on a boat, how does one stop a boat STAT, the trap was not even beginning to slow us down!  So my brain finally translated needing “breaks” into “blowing the halyards” to drop the sails and I saw we were meters from rocks and in a bit over 2 meters of water, meaning the bottom of the boat had a meter of clearance, I turned on the engine, prayed to the spaghetti gods that I wasn’t going to immediately foul the prop, and then threw the engine in reverse full throttled, which ever so gratefully, kept the boat from disaster! Well, pop, the lobster buoy untangled from the rudder and we were free.  Just as we were away from disaster a kind lobsterman came full throttle to come help in the situation, or came at speed to just offer me an award of a really nice looking lobster! Four lobster bouy snags later, no dives in the blood curdlying cold water, no cutting lobster trap lines, no fouled props and no smashing the boat into rocks; I now consider myself a pro at unsnagging those traps!  

This night we pulled over in the southeast corner of Isle of Haut as the winds had died and I was a bit exhausted, so we made due with a make shift anchorage. Little did I know, we had made it – we were anchored off Acadia National Park!  It seemed as if it was mission accomplished that we had finally gotten Acedia to Acadia.   

The next day was slow but eventful.  As we pressed on toward the main park area of Mount Desert Island, we starting  to see a lot of marine debris again; balloons, fishing gear, 5 gal bucket lids, etc.  As we approached Crow Island, the porpoises came out to play and we saw the sweetest seal sitting out on a lone rock dancing and posing with it’s tail curled up, a very sweetest of welcomes to the inner islands toward Mount Desert Island (MDI). We spotted a few loons and the sweet smells of the islands filled the air with fragrances, grasses, blueberry bushes, beach roses and pines. 

Upon landing in Northeast Harbor, MDI, Maine, home of the main lands of Acadia National Park, we came across an important organization helping to maintain this breath taking beauty we sailed into.  Friends of Acadia run multiple programs to help protect and care for the park full of mountains to hike, coves and lakes to explore, trails to ride, and much more.  Since Acadia has been a dream to sail to, we wanted to help support those that have helped keep its culture and beauty alive.  We have donated our most loved bag, the 3DI Carbon Race Sail Racer Duffle to the help raise funds for the good work of Friends of Acadia through their Annual Benefit and silent auction held on August 8, 2020.  

 “Friends of Acadia preserves, protects, and promotes stewardship of the outstanding natural beauty, ecological vitality, and distinctive cultural resources of Acadia National Park and surrounding communities for the inspiration and enjoyment of current and future generations.”

Since our arrival to Great Harbor, we’ve sailed up a fjord, seen seals swimming butterfly style- imagine if they had longer arms, more loons off the boat in the morning, a bald eagle soaring the coast and then right over Acedia, more porpoises coming right up to us on a harbor tour, a cruise up the fjord for sunset dinner over looking the fjord and Somes Sound, and now look forward to the hiking and biking trails! 

Written by Melissa Kalicin, Oceanum Vela Founder

Oceanum Vela repurposes elite racing yacht sails into authentic race sail memorabilia, saving them from occupying landfills around the world. The business of making sail bags is not an entirely a new concept as tons and tons of sails are repurposed every year by lovely boutiques around the world. These sail repurposing boutiques have been collecting mostly old cruising and small race sails for decades now, and they get turned into very nice repurposed sail bags and accessories. 

So where do old famous and elite race sails end up? I’ve found a few race yacht sails repurposed in these said boutiques here or there, but where do the massive collection of old and retired race sails go? I’ve talked to skippers and boat managers of several flashy race yachts; Brian Thompson told me he wanted to have old Phaedo 3 sails repurposed, but hadn't the means to figure out the logistics. Who wanted the massive and heavy old sails? Who was going to take them and transport them to where they would need to go? Heartbrokenly, this is why I decided to start the initiative, Oceanum Vela - to help facilitate collecting old race sails to be repurposed! 

After chasing my sailing dream of getting on a few old Volvo Ocean Race yachts to see what it was all about, it was confirmed what is mostly done with old race sails; and it turns out, its actually a serious end of life waste management issue. I personally saw original Whitbread spinnakers get blown out and then - tossed out. 

One particular experience sailing on and discussing the issue with the Warrior Sailing Team that ran the Volvo Open 70 (VO70), former Camper that raced in 2011-2012, I found two old main sails that I was told I could salvage if I picked them up at the boatyard before someone tripped on them and decided they were better placed in the bin. One of these mainsails help realize one of the most memorable sailing experiences of my life- helming at 22 knots and making it from Bermuda to the mouth of the Delaware in 48hours flat. It should be noted within that time, the first 12hours of the trip were spent in glassy calm Bermudian waters where we stopped to have a dip and swing from the halyard! Those Warrior guys were super welcoming onboard and made that part of the trip back home a ton of fun; not only inspiring to create something from their famously designed Volvo Ocean Race sails.

I went back to visit Antigua for the Caribbean 600 in February where it all seemingly started for me; this year’s trip I was able to meet a half dozen or so new teams and former Volvo Ocean Race boats, the more I meet and discuss with, the more I hear more of the same… it’s an issue, a major issue to know what to do with big old race sails when they are no longer sailable. Team Maserati helped gather up a few former Ericsson 3 sails from their VO70 that raced in VOR 2008-2009, however, it was confessed to me that 3 delaminated Mod70 sails the team had since let away to a far less appealing destiny. That destiny is tons of plastic filling up massive space in a landfill.  

The first VO70 I got a little ride on during Les Voiles de St Barts in 2016 was when I was invited aboard by Leonel Pean and Team SFS. This boat is now branded I Love Poland but was originally Puma Mar Mostro from the VOR 2011-2012. The boat manager/skipper confessed he had had 3 Team SCA (from the all female team to complete in the race while it was known as the Volvo Ocean Race) training sails that they put into a bin a bit over a year ago. I’ve intended to find some of these sails to offer help in supporting The Magenta Project with repurposed sails from their training time getting ready for their Round the World jaunt! The former SCA boat that actually competed in VOR 2014-2015, despite the fact that the yacht was only few islands away while I was in Antigua and now known as AmberSails2, I missed it in this year’s jaunt to the Caribbean.  

The good news is that we found the former Vestas 11th Hour Racing yacht from the VOR 2017-2018, where we might have just scored a broken FRO (Fractional Code Zero, the largest and most impressive of the genoa headsails) and Wizard rocked up to the dock with a broken old Volvo Ocean Race Winning Groupama 4 jib! Let me help these programs give these old sails a new life instead of dying in a landfill. Let’s help preserve the culture and history of the Life At the Extreme that these sails have endured.  Let’s do this while helping to support projects that help protect our playground!  

These sails raced around the planet and now provide for the planet today instead of contributing to planet waste; to help celebrate World Oceans Day and protect the ocean they raced- Get your piece of the race!

June 8, World Oceans Day is important this year - as for 2020 World Oceans Day is a growing global movement to call on world leaders to protect 30% of our blue planet by 2030. This critical need is called 30x30. By safeguarding at least 30% of our ocean through a network of highly protected areas we can help ensure a healthy home for all! To help support this effort, sign their petition

We have partnered up with a local nonprofit, Clean Ocean Access (COA) based in Newport, RI for the month of June to support their critical efforts with 10% of proceeds from all sales. COA’s goals are to eliminate marine debris, improve coastal water quality, and protect and preserve shoreline access. Clean Ocean Access aims to promote a sustainable sailing community through projects such as Healthy Soils, Healthy Seas, RI, and Shrink Wrap Recycling. To learn more about COA, visit their website. 

We can’t forget the amazingly exciting ocean race footage from the Caribbean 600 2020- Shop here to Get a Piece of the Race and support World Oceans Today!

Wrap up film of the 2020 RORC Caribbean 600 - 'A race to get addicted to' 12th Edition 11 Caribbean Islands 73 Entries 700 Sailors 37 Nations 600 Nautical Mi...

by Melissa Kalicin, Founder and Director of Business Philosophy

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We were honored to be featured in the new Greensportsblog's "Earth Day at 50" Podcast series, this April 2020! The chat describes Melissa Kalicin’s, the irrepressible founder of Oceanum Vela, sailing journey that led to creating Oceanum Vela- the startup that saves elite racing boat sails from landfill, preserves the history and culture of the races by turning them into authentic memorabilia - bags, duffels, and much more with their story and provenance. Click below to have a listen!

Episode 3: Melissa Kalicin, Founder of Green-Sports Startup Oceanum Vela

Upcycling Old Racing Sails Destined for Landfills Into All Manner of Memorabilia

Love is in the air and the excitement of the upcoming Royal Ocean Racing Club’s (RORC) Caribbean 600 is unmatched this time of year.  We are reminiscing to mid February 2016 when I- Founder of Oceanum Vela, sustainability professional turned solo adventure sailor- had found a love for everything ocean racing.  

My affinity for ocean racing stems from embarking on what seemed to be an adventure of a lifetime. After living on my boat for 10 years in Boston Harbor, I was solo sailing my own Freedom 38 around the Caribbean; weaving in and out of some of the finest regattas I had ever participated in. It seemed most of the ports I visited, I was dropping anchor in the right place at the right time - amidst race yacht havens where I got up-close encounters to the most exciting race yachts in the world. Fortuitously and with much enthusiasm, my social circle of new sailor friends scored me invitations to sail in the Heineken, Les Voiles de St Bart’s, The Bucket, and Antigua Race Week Regattas. How does one not become enamored with the international sailing and ocean race community consisting of an upmost friendly sailing community, the hottest racing yachts around, in some of the most beautiful waters on earth?  

Totally intrigued, P3 was tied up where I first tied up my Freedom upon reaching Antigua a few weeks prior after skippering my first major offshore sail from Bermuda.

Was it the atmosphere or a seeming rendezvous of super exciting racing yachts around every corner? We’re not sure; but it was during this trip where I found a boat love of a lifetime! I always jokingly said that Phaedo 3, at the time still in flashy green branding with bright orange accented rudders and a metallic reflective hull Mod 70, followed me around the Caribbean that winter.  The Phaedo 3 Campaign was participating in the Caribbean race circuit had just arrived to Antigua when I stumbled across this sexy race machine. I had never seen anything like it before in my life!

Looking back I must have been targeted to become Phaedo 3’s biggest fan as accounts of the Mod 70s performance in the Caribbean 600 started showing up on my Facebook feed.  It was random posts that popped up where I learned that that crazy boat was zooming around the islands I was exploring at the time. Really quite unaware as engulfed in my own adventure, this race machine seemed to never leave my periphery. 

It was the beginning of March when I headed to St Martin to meet up with some friends. After sailing into Marigot Bay under the cover of darkness I had the pleasure of waking up to find the flashy green trimaran moored at anchor just a few boats away!  Finding myself on a boat racing in the Round the Island race just prior to the Heineken Regatta is where I encountered this 3 hulled racing monster coming right up beside us in action; which quickly made us seem like we were in a relatively insignificant monohull. Phaedo 3 raced by flying a hull so magnificently that I swore the hull almost hit our spreaders! That Mod 70 ate us up, spit us out and was around that island before any of us knew what we had just witnessed! 

To get a glimpse of what we witnessed, see Phaedo 3’s performance in the Caribbean 600 2016:

It was during Les Voiles de St Bart’s where a much more race worldly fellow crew pointed out that the skipper to the drool inducing Phaedo 3 was standing by me. Brian Thompson is a kind skipper who indulged in talking to a green lil’l race sailor and was so gracious to extend an offer for a tour of the boat! I was thrilled… to say the least. Life seemingly has never been the same; I was in love with that boat. 

Phaedo 3 Boat Tour in Gustavia, St Bart’s

Tracking and following it’s performance in its next upcoming races assured the great admiration I acquired for Phaedo 3’s skipper as the master of that beast.  I found myself in perpetual awe following the races, records broken, the media production, and the entire race campaign…of my boat love, Mod 70-Flashy Green-Phaedo 3.  Thank you Lloyd, Brian, Fletcher, Rob, Rachel and Richard - to a fabulous boat, racing, and campaign!

Check out the media talent that followed Phaedo 3; So Racey!

It was the next winter after returning to Antigua again on my Freedom, this time with a Waszp that I determined to teach myself to sail, when I started thinking about repurposing race sails. One day sitting at the café on the dock by Phaedo 3’s berth, I witnessed the crew and a few North Sails guys hauling the Mod 70’s main to be taken to the loft for repairs. 

Knowing the North Sails loft fairly well in Antigua, I secretly wanted to follow the sail and find out all about it; take witness to the large flashy green ‘3’ the sail sported up-close, and ultimately wanted to get a piece of it!  I sat there and dreamed of getting a piece of authentic Phaedo 3 memorabilia from its sail. Constraint was shown and it was let alone to be handled by the guys at North Sails to work on undistracted by a silly sailor girl. Meanwhile the inception of creating an authentic repurposed race sail line of products that satisfied my race fan need and passion for responsible businesses was dreamed of. I wanted to encourage less waste in the industry and help fund projects and awareness to help support a healthy ocean and planet. Today I call this project, ŌcĕănumVĕla- Latin for Ocean Sails.  

Brokenheartedly, Phaedo 3 no longer exists in the name and branding, nor was I able to score sail pieces for memorabilia. However, this year’s RORC Caribbean 600 promises a sensational lineup of both some of the most historic and hottest race yachts in the world; from 3 Mod 70s and more than a half dozen former Whitbread and Volvo Ocean Racers listed in the Race’s 2020 Entries. If that entry list doesn’t do it for you, check out the 2016 Wrap up video below for your pure entertainment. Stay tuned as we head down to the race start to bring you some pieces of the excitement!

Thank you for visiting,

Melissa Kalicin, Founder and Director of Business Philosophy

Get your Piece of the Race in our Shop!