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.

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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