Nutrition on a sailing boat: the advices

Eating well to race better

From the virtual meeting, via webinar, with the Treviso Sailing Club we bring home the stories and experiences of free men and women: lovers of the sea, wind and sailing.

Perhaps par excellence, the sailing discipline is the bearer of one of the most fascinating characteristics that characterize us as a human species: the desire to explore and discover what lies beyond the horizon.

Exploring and getting to know the unknown relates deeply to knowing yourself all the more when it comes to performance and the ability to remain alert and active at sea during a 100-mile regatta.

The organization of nutrition becomes a fundamental activity and whoever will be assigned to the role of steward is found to be the guarantor of the crew's well-being and to cover, in some ways, an important role as that of the commander.

Galley Management

The "recipe" for the effective management of the galley is characterized by a real strategy.

Let's see the main ingredients together with our friend Andrea Gravili.

The briefing which, like the technical one, analyzes and defines all aspects of interest.

The galley map, also essential as that of the equipment, to detail the location of food and tools. This map will make the steward's work more efficient and give autonomy to the rest of the crew in case of need.

The tags, labels, which ensure and facilitate supply. We remind you that the availability of products must be possible even if the steward is sleeping or is maneuvering.

The organizational grid, the heart of the system. Necessary to plan each meal in advance in relation to guard changes. In these terms, it is good to provide at least one hot dish a day and organize a breakfast that takes into account the various needs of the crew. Do not forget, at least once, in honor of the tradition of the Italian navy, the pizza during the most difficult changing of the guard, that of midnight. The steward's check list.

A quick tool that allows you to check elements such as: water, food and meals, unloading of superfluous and boarding of the necessary, dishes, pressure cooker (recommended), sequential stowage, mapping and the emergency kit.

The emergency kit: also required by new legislation, a kit ready for when cooking proves impossible and the crew is in crisis.

Nutrition and Integration in the Regatta To tackle sailing and regattas from a nutritional point of view, let's start with the “solution”: 3 main meals plus snacks. Each meal should be balanced in terms of protein and carbohydrate intake.

Starting also with breakfast which too often, by Italian tradition, is sweet and relatively low in protein. Some foods that could be introduced to ensure the first protein intake of the day can be: yogurt, toast or sandwich with ham, boiled eggs or omelette. During the main meals it is advisable to consume a first course, for example a pasta with tomato sauce, and a second course with vegetables, or a richer first course, pasta with meat sauce, spaghetti with seafood, which provides both carbohydrates and proteins.

Even the nostalgic “Pasta e Fasioi” is an absolutely complete and nutritious meal. However, fresh or steamed vegetables must not be missing.

In regattas, physical preparation is essential to face possible particularly challenging moments, in which the maneuvers can be very rapid, explosive and repeated.

In such circumstances the consumption of physical and nervous energy is considerable, and the use of dietary supplementation of specific nutrients can be particularly useful in ensuring explosiveness and keeping the nervous system highly alert. Fooling and leaving a spinnaker in the sun can become a highly exhausting job.

By sea, during long voyages even at night, psychological stress, lack of rest, prolonged physical effort, can lead to an impoverishment of neurotransmitters, the lack of which in turn leads to loss of concentration.

Here, food supplementation can become an excellent tool to support going to sea. We have identified 3 key concepts for which food supplementation can particularly benefit the sailor.

1 - Protein Integration

In preparation for and during the regatta, the sailor must maintain good overall and muscular efficiency. For this reason, the first good rule to guarantee is the correct intake of protein with the diet, distributed in at least 3 main meals. It would be advisable to reduce the size of the main meals to also include 2 snacks. In these terms, the highly concentrated, high-quality protein powder, milk, egg, vegetable supplement is perfect for providing noble proteins quickly and easily. Demonized in the past as the enemy of the liver and kidneys, proteins are actually the most important macro-nutrient in our body. We are made of protein. They not only identify the muscular structures but build organs, tissues and, among others, also make up the immune system. Every day our organism constantly breaks down and rebuilds proteins; for this reason, their intake is recommended to be distributed throughout the day through the main meals which should all contain a portion. The protein requirement of an adult leading an active life is approximately 1.2 grams per body kilo. Therefore the requirement of an adult man of 75 kg is equal to 90 g per day. The Italian breakfast, as mentioned above, for cultural reasons suffers from this deficiency, being faced too often with a cappuccino, a coffee, a croissant and biscuits. Resorting to a natural protein supplement proves to be an efficient and effective solution. It is possible to dissolve 10 g (about 1 scoop contains 8-9 g of protein) in milk, yogurt, with a smoothie together with a fruit. One of our proposals can be Balance, milk proteins, or Veggie for those who prefer to take proteins from plant derivatives. An alternative, faster from the point of view of assimilation, to protein powders, can be amino acids, structural components, the building blocks of proteins, in highly digestible formulas.

2 - Energy, Endurance, and Mental Clarity

A magnifying glass is then placed on the expression of energy needs and explosive energy. Creatine is a fantastic supplement to ensure muscle tone and explosiveness as it takes part in the regeneration processes of ATP during physical activity. Before tackling a regatta, in the preparatory phase and close to the event, evaluating a product like Citrogen can be crucial to charge your muscles with explosiveness. It should be taken from 10 days before the race: 1-2 sachets per day. To keep a clear mind and able to focus, our advice falls on products such as Smarty, a tonic-nerve supplement that collects various specific amino acids, aspartate, taurine, and extracts of guarana and rhodiola. The liquid form guarantees rapid absorption of the active ingredients that allow the body to perform better and keep awake.

3 - Hydration

Wind and temperature are elements that constantly subtract water and mineral salts from our body, in fact causing dehydration, or a reduction in the general water content in the body. Even "just" a 2% reduction in body water content can affect performance by subjecting the heart to an acceleration, affecting energy metabolism and subjecting the central nervous system to severe stress. Hydration should not be understood as the exclusive supply of water but rather as a condition of balance of intra and extracellular liquids and electrolytes. It is not easy and obvious that the water introduced reaches the inside of the cells to allow them to perform all their functions in the best possible way.

To obtain this result, it is necessary to regularly sip a balanced mix of sequentially released sugars and mineral salts, in particular electrolytes, which are essential for maintaining the osmosis between intra and extra cellular fluid active.

A carbo-saline supplement, such as Reisprint, dissolved in a bottle is optimal for guaranteeing cellular hydration and contributing to energy needs while navigating the sea.

Speaking of hydration, we leave you with a quote from Catullus dear to sailing friends: "The water goes where it wants to spoil the wine, far away, among the teetotalers."