Life on the ocean waves

There’s something new, wacky or just plain different at every ECR Europe conference, and Stockholm was no exception.

For the final session, on the theme of Style, Anders Lofgren, commercial director of the Volvo Ocean Race, gave an inside view on the world’s toughest yacht race – the dramas, challenges and, frankly, horrors of staying upright in the world’s most dangerous seas.

He described how the crews survive for days on end on a diet of porridge – ham porridge one day, turkey porridge the next, so at least there’s variety – and are so determined to minimise the boat’s weight that they break their toothbrushes in half and wear the same underwear throughout (although he pointed out they do tend to turn them inside out after 10 or 12 days “for freshness”).

The presentation then went a stage further.

With the latest race currently in progress, delegates were able to watch a live link-up and interview with one of the skippers, Matt Humphries, whose yacht, Brunel, had just reached Portsmouth on the south coast of England. Humphries – an Englishman who coincidentally lives in Stockholm – was asked by interviewer Chris Stephens (Kraft) about the toothbrushes.

“We used to cut them in half to save weight,” he admitted, “but we don’t bother to bring them any more. We don’t have time to wash or brush our teeth in this boat.”

Stephens didn’t ask him about the underwear. Some things it’s better not to know.

Download the presentation