Volvo Ocean Race - How it started

From Mexico came Ramon Carlin, a 50-year-old self-made millionaire who had built up a huge conglomerate manufacturing washing machines and other household goods. 
His Swan 65 Sayula II was one of the few yachts to have a freezer on board, allowing his crew to dine on steaks, hamburgers and chicken each day, washed down with plentiful supplies of beer and carefully selected wine. He also had an eight track stereo system, 100 tapes and a pair of headphones, which may explain why he was rarely seen on deck.

Victualling the boat reflected the way each skipper viewed that first race. Ainslie was offered 1,500 cans of Guinness from his sponsor, but took only a few, preferring instead to have the rest shipped out to Cape Town. Blyth insisted on freeze-dried food and allowed one spoon per crewmember while French boat Grand Louis, like Sayula II, had a fridge and freezer on board, allowing crew to eat fresh meat all race. The bon viveurs on French ketch Kriter drank wine with every meal. In fact, crew on Kriter did not want for much in the way of food as the provisioning list showed:

120kg bread per leg plus fresh bread at each stop

250 kg ham

25 kg preserved sausages

On Carlin’s boat, the crew reckoned they got through six bottles of wine each day even though their skipper was virtually teetotal.

On the cruising yachts, crews slept on mattresses. Some took pyjamas, pullovers, socks and underpants plus books, shaving paraphernalia and anything else that would keep them clean and entertained during their adventure. Others were allowed only the bare essentials.

“There were no containers to meet us in the stopover ports so we had to take all our jackets, ties and shoes with us and hang everything up in the lockers. We each had two books each and we had a cassette player playing rock and roll tapes. You were not welcome on our boat unless you were into rock and roll,” said Chay Blyth.