Another Mike Hennessy article. I've inserted my comments in red. If you don't see a comment then that means that we're in agreement.
American Michael Hennessy is competing in the 2018 Route du
Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe on his Owen Clarke designed Class40 Dragon.
There were 53 Class40s when the race got underway on November 4, but
hard times has reduced the field to 38 skippers in the class.
Hennessy stands 12th in the solo transatlantic race, and after 15 days of sailing, he discusses a popular topic this week… food:
A question I get a lot is “what do you eat”? The short answer is as many calories as I can in the easiest possible way.
It’s hugely important because every action out here takes energy.
Changing sails, steering, stacking gear, trimming sails, fixing things.
Just standing around takes energy given how much the boat is constantly
moving.
But the solution is actually a more complicated answer because there are a few challenges.
1) Equipment. I don’t have a stove, oven, pots or pans, or a
refrigerator. Not enough room and too much weight. All I have is a
single burner camping stove that is good for boiling water, a Jet Boil. I have a two burner stove so I have a few more options.
2) Weight. Everything is about weight out here. I suppose I could
haul around cans of soup and jars of spam but those are heavy calories
with heavy packaging and we don’t litter out here. If I bring it out
there, I bring it back in. If I'm doing a long race, without crew, I usually have a few cans of vegetables or pasta. With crew I'll carry more "heavy" food.
3) Appetite. I lose my appetite out here. It’s not that things don’t taste good, it’s just that I’m not hungry. Ever. I almost always lose weight during the long races, I forget to eat or I just don't feel like eating. I find all those lost pounds during the off season.
For the latter issue, frankly the only answer is to make sure I
have variety and that it tastes good. Then it is just a matter of
forcing the food into me. For the former, I bring a lot of dried food,
either freeze dried or dehydrated, and then add water. I carry both the
food and the water (If it's a short race, say 150 miles or less, AND I'm expecting a lot of port tack I put water in my water tank, located on the port side, to offset the weight of my diesel tank located on the starboard side. I also carry bottle water because I can crush the bottles after use and recycle them at the finish), and can stack both for weight advantages.
Breakfast is usually either instant oatmeal or granola with powdered milk and water.(Same)
Lunch is often a Ramen noodle, with my favorite Mama Ramen. (I leans towards PB&J sandwiches, but if it's Ramen I go with Maruchan Noodles) I add
these packets of dehydrated vegetables from Packit Gourmet to add to
the noodle mix and amp up the flavor and the calories.
Dinner is usually a package of freeze dried that turns into a
meal when you add boiling water and let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes. The
package is powder and small chopped up pieces of food to make it easier
to reconstitute, and the result is something like a softly chunky mush. (Same)
There are lots of different brands and everyone has their
favorites. I tend to carry meals from Packit Gourmet (chili, gumbo,
chicken and dumplings, Tuscan beef stew) and Mountain House (chili mac,
beef stew, lasagna). (In addition to the above I also use Wise Food)
When it is really rough with lots of boat motion, I try to avoid
boiling water because there is risk of burning yourself when
transferring it from camp stove to food bag. So for the first 10 or 11
days I ate a lot of meals from O Meals. These are fully cooked meals in
pouches, and all you do is add a bit of water with a catalyst pack that
when they get together produce heat that warms the food pouch. It’s
heavier so I don’t use it for all meals, but it is safer.
Snacks include nut/fruit trail mix, dried beef, Clif Bars, chocolate (Almond Snickers and/or Hershey Mini's), and I usually bring fresh fruit.
That’s it, Dragon’s cafeteria plan. What I crave when I get to shore is a steak, big salad with lots of tomatoes and ice cream. (Same, along with butter pecan or chocolate brownie ice cream)
Background: The 11th edition and 40th
anniversary staging of the Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe solo
transatlantic race got underway on November 4. Held ever four years,
this iconic 3,542-nautical mile course takes the record entry of 123
skippers in six divisions – Ultime, Multi 50, Imoca 60, Class 40, Rhum
Multi, and Rhum Mono – from the start off the Brittany port of Saint
Malo (France) to Guadeloupe.
Source: Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe
