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!

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 ...

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