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With just a few days to go until the start, at the Team Telefónica base it's time to seal the final bags of food that the crew will take on board the Spanish boat for the first leg from Alicante to South Africa

That familiar habit of getting home, heading straight for the fridge, opening it up to see what's there and picking out a couple of things to cook up for a light dinner is quite simply impossible on board the VO 70 “Telefónica”. Firstly because there is no fridge. Secondly because there is only freeze-dried food, well-known for being the cuisine enjoyed also by astronauts. It will form the basis of the day-to-day diet for the eleven crew members of the Spanish Volvo Ocean Race team... although there's space enough for a treat or two.

Looking at the numbers, the “Telefónica” crew, lead by double Olympic medallist Iker Martínez will spend some 131 days on board the Spanish boat, sailing across three oceans and seas and stopping onto five continents. It's a demanding challenge and so food and nutrition are key for the Spanish team to keep up the pace.

Chef Fructuoso

Murcia's Diego Fructuoso is not only in charge of ensuring that each of the crew eats properly on board, but he's also involved in deciding, alongside the Team Telefónica Health Team, how much of each foodstuff needs to be taken on board for each leg. Not only is the competition physically wearing, but the crew also tend to lose muscle mass, so covering the basic calorific needs is key. To do that, a well-planned diet is fundamental.

Why freeze-dried food?

Firstly because freeze-drying removes any trace of water, so that the weight of foodstuffs is reduced dramatically. Less weight on board means more speed.

In second place, the food has to last for a long time in an environment that is not ideal for storing foodstuffs. On board “Telefónica” the crew will be eating exactly the same sorts of foods that astronauts eat on their missions.

Stowing about 300 kg of food: a game of “Tetris”...

Having vacuum packed everything to lighten the load, save space and to ensure that the food will store well, all of the food taken on board is grouped into bags of about 30 kilos in weight.

These bags are numbered so that each one has the right amount of food necessary for eleven crew members: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner for two days.

The (impossible) pursuit of the perfect menu

Choosing what to eat on board is no simple task. For example: Do you choose a menu that you know that the crew will like, but which doesn't have all of the nutrients considered necessary by a dietician or a sports scientist, or, on the other hand, do you choose a less tasty menu for the crew which is likely to have a negative impact on their humour or state of mind?

To start off with, there may have been advances in the field of freeze-dried food over recent years, but it's never an appetising choice. In fact, most of us would reject powdered milk in our coffees if offered it on a plane, for example. Then there's finding the ideal food for eleven men, which often takes many tastings and lots of time, with taste differing from manufacturer to manufacturer.

To give you an idea of what's eaten on board, Health Team Coordinator Iñigo Losada explains that on day eight of the first leg each crew member will have a bag in which there will be: “cereals that day to go with the powdered milk. There will also be a freeze-dried Madrid stew for lunch and some tortellini for dinner. They will also have some savoury snacks such as ham or cheese and some energy bars with lots of calories and energy, as well as another snack, this time a sweet one, perhaps some biscuits or chocolate. The very best for them!,” jokes the Spaniard.

Calorie counting: one diet for the North, another for the South

During competition the “Telefónica” crew bun some 4,000 calories a day, although of course, that also depends on whereabouts on the planet they are. In the coolest regions that figure could be pushed right up to help to keep the body warm in the tough conditions. On the other hand, in the warmer areas of the planet that figure goes down and hydration becomes the issue, although in the middle of the ocean the water-purifier is the only means of accessing drinking water.

“Yiyo” Losada explains that the number of calories needed “depends on the physical efforts during the day and that effort is also directly linked to the weather conditions. We calculate that there may be days where they burn more than 4,500, when there are tough conditions, they hardly sleep and they are on long watches. There are also calmer days where they don't need as many.”

That's why the team take the decision to come up with a menu that is somewhere in the middle of the two figures at around 3,500 calories. “In the end with every leg you are looking for a balance and for them to reach the finish having lost as little weight as possible”, adds Losada.

Provisions ready for the first leg

The first leg, which will set off on Saturday 5^th November is made up of some 6,500 miles between Alicante and Cape Town, South Africa. It's a course which is likely to throw up quite an array of conditions for the crew on “Telefónica”: the always unpredictable Mediterranean, to the cool Atlantic, crossing the heat at the Equator to finish sailing in the Southern Hemisphere and reaching South Africa in Spring.

It is estimated that the fleet will take some 20 days to complete the first leg, but just in case, they would always take food for more days with them, trying at the same time not to add too much extra weight.

And what will the menu be for this début leg and the baptism of fire for this edition of the Volvo Ocean Race? Diego Fructuoso reveals a few details: “We'll be taking something very Spanish with us: ham. There will be breakfast, lunch and a larger dinner as well as some snacks to graze on during the day. At sea we do different shifts, with watches every four hours, so we always try to make sue that they eat during that time.”

The final decision on how many kilos of food to take on board is likely to be taken a couple of days before the start. Weather forecasts will be more trustworthy, although they will still only be forecasts and they don't always play out the way they say they will...