Sailing Magazine
pic by Rick Tomlinson / Team SCA
When Team SCA departs for Leg 1of the Volvo Ocean Race on October 11th, the crew will be carrying enough food for over 20 days at sea. Consuming enough food and drink during an offshore race is a prerequisite for high performance and to maintain body weight, both crucial success factors in this kind of race. Dee Caffari gives us a brief summary of what a 24-hour food and drink cycle onboard looks like.
‘First of all, I want to talk the importance of staying hydrated: Water is truly the liquid of life, since our bodies consist of roughly 60 percent water. So remaining hydrated is very important in an offshore race like the one we are participating in. We drink lots of desalinated water throughout, and we put an electrolyte tablet in about every third water bottle.
As you can imagine, it is important to eat enough calories every day to avoid losing weight despite the hard work. According to Volvo rules we are only allowed enough food, including snacks, for the calculated days at sea plus for two extra days.
The food routine is quite repetitive, but we try to make it a bit more interesting by having a variety of flavours.
In summary, we get three main meals every day, every eight hours.
This means that dinner is served when a few of us are supposed to be sleeping, but that is just the way it is, I am afraid…
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