Race 3 - Day 10
Crew Diary - Race 3, Day 10
01 November
Clipper Race Cuisine
‘WHAT?!!!’ Tom asked incredulously. ‘You mean I can’t get a bagel like at Leo’s in New York?’ Tom, our new crew member for Leg 2, was apparently unaware that joining the Clipper Race means a new diet program for all. Not only can you forget getting a 21/2 pound lobster at the Palm, but your bagels (now known as toast) will not have Lox, cream cheese, onions, and tomatoes. No, you will be lucky to get butter, maybe peanut butter, jam, or Vegemite (yes the Aussie corrupted me), but that’s it!
On the Clipper Race the new diet program consists of food that has a high caloric intake, which includes lots of pasta, rice, and beans. Chickpeas, beans, more beans, oh and did I mention beans? If you would have provided Tom this diet in NYC, you would probably have found yourself face down in the East river!
That being said, sailing on board a Clipper Race yacht is an experience for all. Especially, victualler. The one responsible for creating the menu and ensure that all dietetic requests are met. A thankless job if there ever was one. Fortunately, for us, Michelle, is a wizard at finding the right meals in all the ports where we land. Nicknamed the bear-skinner (she hails from Canada after all), no one has yet criticised her choices.
A typical day on board Dare To Lead would be a gentle wake up with a hot cup of coffee (of course, I am joking), in actuality, depending on the tact, you are usually tossed out of bed. Once you gather your senses you make your way to the Galley where coffee or tea awaits you made by ‘Mothers’ (two people off of opposing watches to cook and clean for the day). Then, as mentioned, toast with assorted toppings, bran cereal and milk and maybe some fruit. Then it’s off to the watch.
For lunch you could expect sandwiches, soup, or if you are lucky a pasta salad with feta cheese (kind of like serving Grog in the old days if we were good). We could also always expect the ubiquitous biscuit(s), crisps or chocolate that we raid consistently out of the cave lockers (and I wonder why I can’t lose weight).
As for dinner; what awaits us is pasta, vegetarian pasta, rice, beans, peas, rice, couscous, beans, and well, more beans. Which does tend to provide strength for sailing and other odiferous activities.
Of course, some stout sailors try to increase morale by creating their own recipes out of the material and food that is on board. One must admire their desire to help their fellow sailors, but creating a new meal is like riding a unicycle, blindfolded while juggling knives - sooner or later, something bad is about to happen. Which, occurred for us right out of the gates during race one, in the English Channel. No sooner had the watch been set than our intrepid Australian, tried to make his ‘world-famous’ pasta bolognese. Needless to say, cooking at 45 degrees and sailing upwind provided quite the environment to create this dish. So, by the time John was completed with his OZ cuisine the entire kitchen, as well as the Galley looked like a murder scene out of CSI, with red sauce splatter all over the walls, ceilings and floors! Lesson learned.
These meals are just a few of the culinary delights that await one when sailing for the Clipper Race. But sooner or later all the care and feeding that both the victualler and the Mothers try to provide runs into the same old dull routine. Much like Tom I have had my moments when, after finishing dinner I crawl out of the Galley onto the deck of our sailing ship, gaze upon the slate black ocean and look up at the cold grey sky and screamed- ‘As God is my witness, I will never eat Couscous again!’