Commodore VCYC – Long Distance Provisioning

From: Ross Wilson on bfjconstr@vanuatu.com.vu An update from the Melbourne Yachts who are about to have a night to discuss food for their 1490 mile race! Maybe some offshore racers consider a big bowl filled with enough rehydrated food for all crew to share and dip into with a fork is an evening meal. But to the experienced long distance yachtie a proper meal is important fuel for crew, and good provisioning is an important part of planning a long distance race. Provisioning was the topic of the ORCV’S first Information Session for the Melbourne to Vanuatu race, held at the Royal Brighton Yacht Club in February. The evening was well attended and included many sailors with thousands of nautical miles under their belts orkeels! Robyn Brooke had prepared a presentation on provisioning and bought ingredients for bread baking. George Shaw helped create the spirit of Vanuatu by handing out specially imported bottles of local beer or Bia as the locals call it! The session took off as a very interactive, knowledge sharing evening, with Robyn beginning her presentation with the wise words of that other great Shaw—George Bernard Shaw: “If you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” Following the theme that catering on board need not be boring, Robyn encouraged two volunteers— Virginia and Eric from Independent Endeavour—to demonstrate the art of baking bread at sea. One of the first tips for the evening was to stow the premeasured dry ingredients in a ziplock bag (keep the yeast separate - a small film canister1 is useful for this) then all you do is add oil and water and massage the ingredients together in the same bag — with no mess! Once well combined, you can turn the dough out onto the salon table for your workout. If you’re lucky enough to have an adjustable table you can lower it to get a better angle on the dough so there’s no aching shoulders. Everyone agrees the smell of freshly baked bread is a wonderful pick-me-up and reward in itself for the hot workout ‘kneaded’ to bake in the tropics. With the bread in the RBYC oven to bake, the information sharing session began. Below are some of the ideas and tips that flowed from the Provisioning Information Session. Planning is important for the ocean racer to minimize weight and maximize the limited space available on the yacht. You can’t stop along the way, so everything, water, fuel and food, needs to be considered carefully before your trip begins, including contingency planning for refrigeration breakdowns and slower than expected passages. There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to provisioning as each boat is individually equipped. Some have microwaves, alternators and converters, some have freezers and multiple house batteries, while others have an esky! Before you head off to buy your food you need to carefully plan what will work best for you, considering your boat’s fuel, water, power and fridge capacity and space availability.