OCEAN RACERS

While the team name has become synonymous with the couple at the helm of its operations, Ocean Racers is an international mixed and youth-based sailing team and network. The team is owner-operated by co-skippers Morgen Watson and Meg Reilly, who have taken their Pogo 12.50 Hermes on an incredible journey to compete in elite offshore races around the world.

Skipper Morgen Watson hails from Canada—Calgary to be precise—who had to break out of landlocked-status and travel to realize his dream of ocean racing. The duo met on the 2013-14 Clipper Round the World Race; where they circumnavigated the world and, ultimately, won.

That race not only brought them together and kicked off a life of living beyond land, it shifted Meg’s career trajectory; she quit her first dream job in advertising on Madison Avenue to participate in the race - and—perhaps unbeknownst to her at the time—sealed her salty future.

Following the Clipper, Morgen and Meg founded Canadian Ocean Racing; a charity program to develop the next generation of offshore sailors in Canada. The team raced the Open 60—O Canada—in the 2015 IMOCA Ocean Masters circuit as the only Canadian team, all while training fellow youth Canadian offshore sailors.

Now expanded internationally and renamed to Ocean Racers, the team is determined to change the face of yacht racing and give it a modern upgrade. Still committed to youth development, Ocean Racers has welcomed rising talent like fellow Mustang Survival ambassador Emily Nagel onboard. And, in an effort to help empower more female talent offshore, Meg has also skippered Women’s Offshore Week programs.

The team’s mission is accessibility in ocean racing, giving all sailors an opportunity to compete in world-class races as part of the crew. If you can’t physically get onboard, they transport you there through engaging social media and storytelling (check out @oceanracers on Instagram and Facebook). They welcome anyone interested to apply to join the crew, and keep the team’s website updated with open events.

Fast Facts

• Circumnavigators
• Winners of Clipper Round the World Race 2014
• Favorite route across the Atlantic: Westbound to Caribbean!
• Serious Love/Hate Relationship with Mediterranean Sea (see YouTube videos)
• Goal: Finishing Transat Jacques Vabre Race (unfinished business since 2015)

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