Race 3 - Day 7
Crew Diary - Race 3 Day 7
30 October

The victualler gives a small sigh, and observes, in response to a recent food-related grumble:

“Everyone wants to be the victualler on the water, but nobody seems quite so keen on land.”

If you are wondering what the victualler is, they are the lucky person with the responsibility for planning and provisioning enough food and stores to keep a crew of 21 happily fed and watered for up to five weeks at sea.

Wondering what you can generate for dinner tonight that will please your family of four? If so, you have the beginnings of the complexity of the task of 21 people and their dietary requirements, specific allergies and national tastes.

To make the job harder; nothing much fresh will last long, other than butternut squash, onions and potatoes. Fruit will go from minor complaints about speckled bananas to liquefaction after about eight days.

Some things surprise you with their longevity; one watermelon became a wobbly blob of mush after 48 hours on board. The other was still perfect at two weeks and was enjoyed by the crew cut into slices and chilled in the freezer.

Ah, yes, the freezer. Imagine a small cabin-bag suitcase, with the freezing power of that ‘one star’ icebox at the top of the fridge.

The victualler has a plan of eight days of different breakfast, lunch, and tea; they got a dietician friend to review and approve. Each day has loaves of bread and some cake to be baked.

Over the weeks, the crew have become inventive, and taken the base recipe in a new direction; a chicken noodle stir fry has been transformed into a spiced chicken toasted sandwich. A plain sponge cake has been transformed into a chocolate-vanilla marble cake.

Ways have been found to make a spam recipe such that seconds were demanded, and corned beef has been turned into a passable base for a cottage pie.

So, victualler, I salute you. Your sacrifice in spending your time in Carrefour rather than carefree in Cadiz and the Mercardo in Punta rather than the pub.

And thanks for the impressive stocks of Tunnock’s wafer caramels.

Steven (not the victualler)