Armies famously march on their stomachs, but what about sailors? More specifically, what about round-the-world yachtsmen and women?
The Volvo Ocean Race is one of the most gruelling sporting events in the world and, as in all sports, diet plays a vital role in success or failure. But on these yachts, there’s no room to store bulky and unnecessary extras – such as fresh food. So in the long months at sea, how do the crew get the nutrition to keep them healthy, alert and at peak fitness?
The Ericsson Racing Team, with two boats in the race – Ericsson 3 and Ericsson 4 – dominated the results at the halfway stage. The first of two boats for the 2009 event has a multi-national crew, the second a Nordic crew – both comprising of leading yachtsmen and Olympians. As you’d expect there’s a certain amount of healthy competition between boats one and two – but the responsibility for nutrition for both crews is in the hands of one man, the team’s New Zealand-born physiotherapist Joel Rewa-Morgan.
“We can’t take fresh meat, vegetables or fruit, so we had to find other ways to give the guys the macro nutrients they need,” he says. In order to find the best solution, Joel talked to various experts including Kerry Kayes, nutrition specialist at CNP Professional, the company specialising in sports protein supplements.
Kerry met Joel and the crews at the team training camp in Lanzarote a few months before the start of the race. “Joel explained that the crew have very specific requirements, based on their continuous four hours on, four off rota,” Kerry says. “So after four hours of very strenuous activity they have just four hours to eat, sleep, relax and do their various chores. However, my advice had to take account of the conditions on board. And in the end, protein bars were the obvious choice.”
Joel confirms this. “We went for protein bars to supplement the crews’ high carb diet because they are portable, compact and easier to handle in a stormy sea than a protein shake, plus they give the crew the nutrients their body needs to keep them healthy.”
Joel did plenty of research to find the right bars. “They couldn’t be too soft – that would make them difficult for cold, wet fingers to grapple with. More importantly, they needed to taste OK. These guys are spending months on board and need to keep their spirits up. Traditionally sports supplements taste terrible – so once we found bars with the right consistency, we got the crew to taste-test them thoroughly.”
The bars that came out top were CNP Professional’s Pro Bar XS. “The crew really liked them, which came as a bit of a surprise given their comments on some of the supplements we’ve tried in the past!” says Joel. In fact, they were so impressed Joel also ordered some of CNP’s Pro Flapjacks. “The flapjacks also offer a good portion of protein, along with carbs. Plus they give the crew a bit more variety,” he explains.
With the race underway, Joca Signorini, in charge of crew nutrition aboard Ericsson 4, took time out in mid-Atlantic to describe the crew’s diet.
“Our main diet is of freeze-dried food, usually two hot meals and porridge for breakfast,” he says, adding that the biggest hurdle is the sheer monotony of the main meals, and that supplements form an important part of the variety.
“We have some kind of curry every other day – well, it feels like every other day! In between, we have snacks like dried fruits and nuts, instant noodles and soup sachets.
“But of course, we have the CNP Protein Bars too. And they are much better than the other brands we’ve tried, which tasted like powder. We particularly like the CNP flapjacks.”
The Pro Flapjacks come in three flavours, Chocolate, Cherry & Almond and Chocolate Orange, and each 75g portion contains nearly 19g of protein and 35g of complex carbohydrate. There are four flavours in the Pro Bar XS ‘chewy crisp’ range, Chocolate, Berry, Caramel and Peanut. Each 70g bar delivers 30g of protein.
For the latest news on the Ericsson Racing Team boats’ progress in the Volvo Ocean Race visit www.ericssonracingteam.com
CNP Professional is one of the UK’s leading sports nutrition specialist companies. CNP products are available from high street outlets, online retailers and from the company website. For more information visit www.cnpprofessional.co.uk or call +44 (0) 161 320 1212 for sports nutrition advice and +44 (0) 161 320 8145 for sales.
CNP Professional is a leading supplier of sports nutrition supplements ranging from protein shakes, protein bars, creatine supplements, meal replacements, mass gainers, weight loss supplements and post work out shakes all designed for the ultimate in sports nutrition.
Kerry Kayes, the founder of CNP Professional is a former national bodybuilding champion. He has been involved in sports nutrition for many years and his dietary expertise has established him as ‘the man in the know’. He has worked with stars from a wide variety of sports including boxer Ricky Hatton, footballer David Dunn and the Ericsson Round the World Yacht Team.
CNP Professional supplements are carefully formulated to ensure that the body is able to make best use of the nutrients.
There are several articles explaining protein nutrition supplements on the CNP website – go to the home page and click on ‘nutrition’ under the articles section.