It lacks a fireplace, crackling twigs, a pretty white mantle surrounding the little chalet in Lapland lit by sublime Northern Lights. Despite everything, we still prefer to celebrate Christmas in our little Parisian apartment, warm surrounded by family, than alone on a boat preparing to pass Cape Horn, all after an already grueling month and a half of racing. While we feast on smoked salmon toast, capon and iced log, the Vendée Globe skippers will have to make do with the minimum.
“I’ll still take a little splash of red,” laughs Louis Burton (Valley Office). Same for New Year. » Not much more. It must be said that the fleet is not going to take on board a plethora of provisions for a single date, however festive it may be, when everything is calculated to the nearest gram, or almost, so as not to weigh down the boat too much. “The weight is penalizing,” assures Yoann Richomme (Paprec-Arkéa) You just have to find a balance between comfort food and “the basics”. I took 50% canned prepared meals, 50% freeze-dried meals (which weigh less). »
“The cheese responds really well”
“Balance”, the word often comes up in the mouth of Virginie Auffret, a dietitian nutritionist who takes care of several skippers in this Vendée Globe, including Samantha Davies (Heart Initiatives). The British also carry freeze-dried, canned (canned, jars, etc.), dehydrated, with a few little pleasures, all the same. In 2021, she had M&Ms, rice pudding, peanut butter and plenty of cheeses, such as Etorki, Beaufort, Comté…
« It is a product which is quite energetic, which keeps very well which also provides bacteria, which will maintain our intestines, explains Virginie Auffret. In nutrition, we must always pay attention to maintaining our intestinal microbiota and cheese allows this. It has advantages and for a sailor, in an endurance sport like this with an energy intake to try to fill, cheese responds really well. »
Above all, cheese has the advantage of being able to be devoured in any part of the world. This is not the case for all foods. “Depending on the climate you are in, your body does not have the same needs,” explains Louis Burton. If you are in a tropical climate, you will sweat, so you need to hydrate more, so you need to eat foods that will promote hydration and water assimilation. When you are in a polar climate, resistance to cold and humidity consumes calories, so you have to eat more than when you are in a temperate climate. »
“It’s less easy to cook”
So what can we taste depending on the geographical area where we are? Soup when it’s cold and tabbouleh/sausages when it’s hot? A bit reductive.
“In the South Seas, we have to load up on energy, we have to add fat and oil to optimize energy expenditure,” says the nutritionist. In very hot zones, we will emphasize hydration, on micronutrients, to optimize hydration while the energy intake will not be very different from a temperate zone. » Like cycling or open water swimming with caffeine, micronutrition has also taken on a new dimension in sailing in recent years.
In particular, it allows, in a fairly “simple” way, to compensate for vitamin losses, improve performance or even reduce fatigue. And suffice to say that on the Vendée Globe, fatigue… The development of this practice, which has been confirmed to us by several skippers, has increased in particular “because of” the technological advances of the Imoca, as Louis Burton details, and the desire to go ever faster, ever higher, ever stronger:
« As these boats go faster and faster, are more and more violent, we find it less and less easy to cook. So the systems for heating water have improved, are more all-terrain, we can use them more easily. But when it hits, it hits, you feel less like eating. So for several years now we have had micronutrition arriving a little more in the food environment on board, therefore with supplements. »
Do not underestimate the contributions
This also makes it possible to “feed” the skipper, even if he does not feel the need. Sailing for a few hours with Samantha Davies aboardHeart Initiativesshe admitted to us that there were days on the Vendée when she had “no calorie expenditure, because I stay in my seat”. Libra that we are, we mentioned his comments to Virginie Auffret, who immediately wanted to tone things down.
“Often, navigators tend to underestimate their contributions so, typically, Sam says she doesn’t need much, but in fact she does, she needs whatever it may be. Already, it has its vital energy, and then when we are at sea we have additional expenses, if only to manage the balance. Even if, as an athlete, she says to herself, “well yes, but I haven’t done really intense sport, I don’t need to eat so many calories”, her intake should not be underestimated. . »
Hence the importance of micronutrition. “It’s going to be certain antioxidants, certain vitamins, certain minerals too, because at a given moment they no longer have too many fruits, fresh vegetables, and we have to compensate,” concludes Virginie Auffret. For example, she will take spirulina, or protein, depending on the maneuvers she is going to do. » Well, it will never replace a good British porridge, but it still allows the body to regain its strength.