1. Round-the-
8 Wednesday September 4, 2013
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Can dishing up hearty
nutritious meals make the
difference between winning
and losing the world’s long-
est ocean race?
Chef Lawrence Lingard,
who is a crew member on
the China boat, Qingdao –
one of 12 yachts taking part
in the Clipper Round-the-
World Yacht Race – definite-
ly thinks so.
The 47-year-old restau-
rant owner, who trained at
some of London’s Miche-
lin-starred establishments,
spoke to us before setting
off on the gruelling chal-
lenge from St Katharine
Docks on Sunday.
The former amateur box-
er has taken on the vital
role as the yacht’s victual-
ler – putting together the
menu and working out the
food supplies needed to en-
ergise the 22-strong crew
as they encounter different
temperatures and rough
weather conditions while
circumnavigating 40,000
miles around the globe over
11 months.
As we step onboard most
of the crew are busy making
last minute safety checks
while Lawrence is stacking
tins of tomatoes under the
bunk beds.
Apart from the profes-
sional skipper leading the
amateur crew, keeping the
team fed is probably the
biggest responsibilty and
requires someone good with
numbers, who can work out
complex quantities.
With a budget of just £3.50
per person a day Lawrence
has to ensure everyone gets
their daily energy require-
ment of 5,000 calories while
keeping the weight of food
supplies onboard to a mini-
mum. The stock needs to
last 45 days for the first leg
to South America, including
five days of emergency sup-
plies in case they get stuck
in rough weather.
Lawrence said: “It’s much
more stressful than running
my own restaurant. You
need to provide enough pro-
teins and carbohydrates.
“As well as pasta I’m using
brown rise and pulses, such
aslentilsandbeans,abitlike
porridge your body stores
and slowly releases the
energy, so that’s a good kind
of carbohydrate. Providing
enough energy through the
food will help keep morale
up.
“I experienced that dur-
ing our training when the
guy doing the cooking didn’t
get the portions rights. I was
the last one down and there
wasn’t hardly anything left.
Stores
“I felt so depressed and it
made me realise how impor-
tant food is because it is all
you have got to look forward
to during the day. I definitely
think it could make a differ-
ence between winning and
losing the race.”
Literally hundreds of
onions are stored below
deck. Lawrence explained:
“Onions are cheap, will add
flavour and help bulk the
meat out. When you have
got just £3.50 per person a
Challenge can be won
or lost in ship’s galley
Chef crew member says food is vital to energise adventurers
by Else Kvist
else.kvist@archant.co.uk
I Restaurateur Lawrence Lingard is among the crew on the
Quindao and responsible for the ship’s supplies
I Yachts set off on the marathon journey
I One of the competitors pictured off Rainham Marshes
Photo by John Hercock

2. world clipper race
Wednesday September 4, 2013 9
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Held on
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For more information and
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Please Call:
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Macmillan World's
Biggest Coffee
Morning
We will be holding
a coffee morning in
honour of Macmillan
Cancer Support
There will be plenty of coffee (and tea) with a variety of
cakes and biscuits to get your hands on.
Prizes to be won and fun activities to get involved in.
Come support a good cause and drink some coffee, it will
be a great opportunity for networking
I One of the bunk beds inside the Quindao team’s yatch
Picture: David Mirzoeff
Large crowds lined the
banks of the River Thames,
near Tower Bridge, to cheer
on the crews of the world’s
longest ocean race.
More than 120,000 spec-
tators waved off the Clip-
per Round-the-World Yacht
Race, as it set sail from St
Katharine Docks on Sunday.
It is the first time Lon-
don has hosted the clipper
race and it is 40 years since
the Thames last featured
a round-the-world sailing
event.
The 12-strong fleet of 70ft
ocean racing yachts and a
flotilla of support vessels,
including a paddleship
steamer, pilot and police
boats and pleasure cruisers
participated in a pageant.
Tower Bridge was also
opened to salute the crews
facing the ultimate endur-
ance test as they set off for
the first leg to Rio de Janeiro
in Brazil.
The fleet will not return
until July next year after a
total of 670 crew have raced
40,000 miles and visited 16
ports on six continents.
Legendary British yachts-
man, Clipper Race founder
and chairman Sir Robin
Knox-Johnston said: “It is
wonderful to see these gutsy
people set off on one of the
greatest adventures left on
the planet.
“Departing from the icon-
ic Tower Bridge is some-
thing really special for the
crews and skippers who
have been building up to
this moment for months.
“To see them return to
London as accomplished
circumnavigators in 11
months time will be a spe-
cial moment.”
Exhilarating
Designed to provide every-
one – regardless of sailing
experience – the chance to
race across oceans and taste
the exhilaration of complet-
ing a circumnavigation, the
race has turned over 3,500
novices into ocean racers
since its inception in 1995.
Everyone from teach-
ers, nurses and lorry driv-
ers to accountants, sports
stars and film directors
from across the globe team
together to take on the
world’s toughest sailing con-
ditions.
The experience doesn’t
come cheap with crew mem-
bers paying a minimum of
around £10,000, including
£5,000 for compulsory train-
ing, for just one leg.
To take part in the whole
race costs about £42,000.
The race did not officially
start until Monday morning
offshore at Southend.
The first leg ends in Rio,
the destination for the 2016
Olympic sailing events.
They then continue on via
South Africa, Western Aus-
tralia, the east coast of Aus-
trailia, Singapore, China,
San Francisco, Panama, Ja-
maica, New York, Northern
Ireland and the Netherlands
before returning to Lon-
don’s St Katharine Docks.
Cheering thousands wave off shipmates on gutsy expedition
day for three meals it’s re-
ally tough. But if you think
the crew on his ship are go-
ing to live on cheap corned
beef, think again.
“It’s easier to provide the
5,000 calories a day through
meat – say a piece of chick-
en or minced beef. If you
were using a tin of beef
casserole – which is expen-
sive – you would still need
to add vegetables. I figured
it would be lighter in weight
and cheaper to have our own
produce.
“So as a crew we made
the decision to buy two
travel freezers to allow
us to have frozen meat.
I’ve saved £120 just on
doing the butchering my-
self.”
Lawrence even managed
to save enough money to buy
chocolate bars as snacks for
the crew as they requested.
He continued: “The food
also needs to be quick and
easy because if the boat is
keeled over at 30 degrees and
you are trying to cook that’s
going to be a challenge.
“I’m trying to design a
menu which provides qual-
ity, but at the same time
should be easily achiev-
able.”
Dishes on the menu
include oats and toast for
breakfast, and soup, cheese
sandwiches or tuna wraps
for lunch. Supper can be
chilli con carne, spaghetti
carbonara without the eggs,
shepherds pie or his grand-
ma’s chicken curry recipe.
It is always followed by a
sweet such as apple crumble
and custard. Now and again
the crew will have bacon
sandwiches as a treat and
fruit as snacks.
The menu rotates eve-
ry eight days. Supplies
include “rough weather
food”.
Lawrence said: “I got
these tinned pork burgers.
You just boil them up – if the
weather is too bad to cook or
the crew is seasick all the
time.”
Nervous
But Lawrence – like the rest
of the crew – will only be on
cooking duties every 11 days
when on Mother Watch – the
term used for cooking and
cleaning the toilet heads
and other facilities.
It is the only day when
they have a chance to get a
full night’s sleep and maybe
a shower. The rest of the
time each watch of 11 crew
alternate between sailing
duties and resting either
four or six hours at a time.
“We all have our weak-
nesses and strengths. I
guess I’m nervous about not
being able to sail because
I think I’m the least able,”
concluded Lawrence.
We all have
our weaknesses
and strengths.
I guess I’m
nervous about not
being able to sail
because I think
I’m the least able
Chef Lawrence Lingard