Éric Guérin, the chef who treats the Vendée Globe skippers

Who could have imagined that a chef accustomed to cooking in gourmet restaurants would start preparing meals for skippers racing around the world? Yet that's the challenge Eric Guérin has taken up, creating tailor-made menus for the participants in the Vendée Globe.

The project, born of a chance encounter and a crush on the chef, transformed his cooking into a veritable maritime adventure. By combining gastronomy and logistics, Eric Guérin was able to offer skippers a unique culinary experience, while meeting the specific constraints of the race.

Unexpected beginnings

It all began with a disrupted restaurant renovation. Faced with a few sticking points with the architect in charge of the original project, the chef at La Mare aux Oiseaux decided to call in Romuald Poirat, another architect he'd recently met - and with whom the feeling had been good - during a "crisis" meeting. He asked the right questions and announced, "If you trust me, I'll take over your whole project with my arms raised, and I'll do it. You leave, travel and I'll contact you if there are any problems". Impressed by his composure, Eric Guérin decided to entrust him with the entire project.

When the second lockdown arrived, the chef left for Martinique. It was during this sailing trip that the idea of creating tailor-made meals for skippers was born. Romuald told him about his entry for the Concarneau-Saint-Barth double-handed transatlantic race. "I told him it would be fun to accompany him. He said why not." To prepare the meals, the chef put his assistant Benjamin Larue on the project."He's a great sportsman, so I asked him if he'd be able to create meals that could be transported in boats, that didn't need refrigerators, etc." To meet these challenges, Eric Guérin and his team have developed specific culinary techniques, such as appertization.

Tailor-made dishes for exceptional sailors

Preparing meals for skippers racing around the world is a major challenge. The constraints are numerous:

• Preservation: dishes must be able to keep for several weeks without refrigeration, while retaining their flavor and texture.
• Reheating: skippers don't have access to a fully-equipped kitchen, so dishes need to be reheated quickly and easily.
• Nutrition: meals must provide the energy sailors need, while being balanced and varied.
• Personalization: each skipper has specific tastes and needs.

The dishes offered to skippers are varied and adapted to their needs. "For Romuald, we suggested a whole route from Brittany to the islands, with a different dish each day. When he arrived at La Bouée, where he took the trade winds, we made him a lobster because he was leaving the Atlantic. After that, we'd make him a pigeon-pea when he was along the coast, or a chicken colombo when he went up to the islands."

Eating on a boat is technical, so when it's possible to combine pleasure with on-board logistics, it's starting to appeal to professionals"and it creates word-of-mouth on the pontoons". Skippers such as Fabien Delahaye, the first interested party, Isabelle Joschke and Eric Perron have benefited from these tailor-made menus. "Fabien Delahaye wanted small pieces, not too much sauce and moderate portions. Isabelle wanted vegetarian. Eric Perron wanted bigger portions with lots of sauce."

In concrete terms, what do the skippers eat? "Yoann Richomme asked us for tartiflette and foie gras for Christmas. There are also simpler dishes. The sailors choose their meals according to their state of mind during the race. I make all the sauces and try to bring Proust's Madeleine to life every time." For dessert, the emphasis is on rice pudding and compotes. Another important dimension is the weather. "During a storm, skippers can't always reheat their dishes. So we've worked on our products so that they can be eaten both hot and cold." Everything is delivered a few days before the start and ready to eat.

julien Champolion Polaryse

An impact on skippers' performance and morale

"We work on the emotional ," explains Eric Guérin, and this is certainly one of the magical ingredients that favors the prowess of Vendée Globe skippers. These tailor-made meals have a positive impact on performance and morale."The idea was really to give them brain energy, as well as body energy!"

Today, seven of them enjoy the cuisine of the chef and his teams throughout the race, and some don't fail to give feedback."Charles Caudrelier came back and told us it was the first time he'd done such a big challenge without losing weight, without fatigue, and he won well!"The chef has also developed partnerships with companies specializing in sports nutrition, to offer complementary products to meals such as energy bars.

Eric Guérin's project is a wonderful human adventure, combining gastronomy, sport and innovation. By offering Vendée Globe skippers unique meals, the chef has not only enhanced their racing experience, but also helped push back the boundaries of cuisine.