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

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