Saturday 10 March
A Vendée Globe means twelve weeks of food
Eighty days of sailing around the world, or in other words about twelve
weeks where the skipper has to be completely independent. The food taken
aboard is a vital element for the sailor taking part in a race. So planning
and preparing the meals is equally important. We met up with Patricia
Brault, who is in charge of logistics and supplies in the Safran Sailing
Team.
Description : Safran100312How many kilos of food will be taken aboard the
Safran monohull for the Vendée Globe?
Patricia Brault: We are planning around 150 kilos, divided up into six
watertight bags. Each bag contains a fortnight’s worth of food. Marc takes
what he wants, what he thinks he requires, what is most practical for him at
each stage of the race. The goal is to come up with something that is
varied, tastes good, is light, but offers enough calories, and above all, it
has to be well organised.
What exactly is in the bags and how are the menus prepared?
P.B.: Marc prefers ready-prepared meals, sealed in plastic, which can be
heated up in hot water in the bag or in the pan, rather than dehydrated or
freeze-dried products. Having said that, the suppliers have made a lot of
progress over the past four years and so we have a mixture of prepared and
freeze-dried meals. I am always looking out for the latest ideas from three
companies, who work with nutritionists. I then get Marc to taste these
dishes when at home or out sailing. He then tells me what he thinks and
ticks on a chart what he wants. For the Vendée Globe, he will be able to
choose between around fifty different dishes, including thirty
ready-prepared meals. For example, classic meals like pork in a mustard
sauce, stewed pork with lentils, cottage pie… But there are also finer
dishes, such as a seafood stew or monkfish with diced vegetables.
He won’t be eating the same sort of food in the tropical heat as in the icy
cold conditions in the southern ocean. How do you deal with that?
P.B.: The six bags of supplies are numbered according to the type of
weather. When sailing off Brazil, there will be more bulgur wheat salads and
“fresh” produce than in the Indian or Pacific Ocean, where he will require
more calories. Of course, after that, Marc takes what he wants out of the
bags. We must remember too that Marc is not a keen dessert eater, but has a
special bag on board for breakfast with dried fruits and a special sea bread
made in l'Aber Wrac'h in NW Brittany: in the last Vendée Globe, the bread
was still good right down to the Kerguelen Islands!"
Marc Guillemot’s point of view
The skipper of Safran pays close attention to what he needs to feed himself
and therefore to what he eats: “There is always the same guiding principle:
healthy eating with a nice taste, light and yet supplying me with enough
calories,” he said to sum up. This is a key factor, especially when we see
that a single-handed sailor requires twice as many calories per day in the
southern ocean as an office worker for example. So, just as for his first
Vendée Globe, Marc Guillemot has been working with a nutritionist, in
particular during a special day that was organised at the Finistère Ocean
Racing Training Centre.
What about drinks? ”Water and green tea with ginger and never any alcohol at
sea.”
Any special treats? “No chocolate bars or sweets, but some Hénaff pâté,
sardines and cod liver”, (the only canned food aboard). “I know I need three
cans a week, which means around forty in all. I prefer to make that small
concession in terms of the weight stowed aboard, as I know what I like and I
do well with that. At sea, that is so enjoyable that it is well worth
weighing down the bags with that. Of course, I have to move them around to
stack (moving the bags from one side of the boat to the other to get the
right balance according to the point of sail, editor’s note) but the further
along we go in the race, the lighter they get. And let’s not forget that in
the cold weather in the southern ocean, life can be a bit tough, so a little
sardine sandwich as a starter helps out a lot. They’re full of energy!”
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