A groundbreaking scientific study tracking the crew of The Famous Project CIC has shed new light on the extraordinary physiological demands of ocean racing, revealing that the team consumed a staggering 1,307,100 calories over the course of their circumnavigation.
The data, compiled by WTS – The Coaching Company alongside researchers Bérénice Charrez and Kilian Philippe, paints a vivid picture of the human engine behind offshore sailing — a sport often discussed in terms of wind, waves, and boat speed, but rarely in terms of the sheer biological fuel required to keep a crew functioning at the highest level.
Wind Powers the Boat, Calories Power the Crew
As skipper Dee Caffari and her team well know, a sailboat is propelled by the force of the wind. But the crew themselves run on something far more tangible: calories — consumed and burned in enormous quantities throughout a round-the-world voyage.
To put the 1,307,100-calorie total into perspective, the study calculated that the crew’s intake was equivalent to eating 8,433 eggs over the duration of the circumnavigation. That works out to roughly 18 eggs per person per day — a figure that underscores just how relentless the energy expenditure is when racing across oceans for weeks and months on end.
The Hidden Battle Below Deck
The physical toll of offshore sailing is often underestimated by those unfamiliar with the sport. Crew members endure constant motion, broken sleep patterns, physically demanding sail changes, and prolonged exposure to cold, wet, and extreme conditions. Every watch rotation, every grind on a winch, every climb to the foredeck in heavy seas draws heavily on the body’s reserves. Maintaining caloric intake is not merely about comfort — it is a critical performance and safety issue.
Historically, nutrition and weight management have been among the most complex logistical challenges of round-the-world racing. Crews must balance the need for calorie-dense, lightweight provisions against the realities of limited storage, no refrigeration, and the difficulty of preparing meals in a galley that pitches and rolls around the clock. Freeze-dried meals, energy bars, and high-fat snacks have become staples of the offshore diet, but even with careful planning, many sailors finish circumnavigations significantly lighter than when they started.
Dee Caffari and The Famous Project CIC
Dee Caffari is one of the most accomplished ocean sailors in the world and the first woman to have sailed single-handed and non-stop around the world in both directions. The Famous Project CIC represents her continued commitment to pushing the boundaries of offshore racing while also advancing the understanding of what these extreme endeavors demand of the human body.
By embedding a scientific study within the project, Caffari and her team have contributed valuable data that could influence how future offshore campaigns approach crew nutrition, performance optimization, and overall wellbeing at sea. The collaboration with WTS – The Coaching Company and researchers Charrez and Philippe signals a growing trend in professional sailing toward data-driven preparation that extends well beyond boat speed and meteorological routing.
A Growing Focus on Human Performance in Sailing
The findings from The Famous Project CIC arrive at a time when the sailing world is increasingly recognizing the importance of human performance science. Major campaigns in events like The Ocean Race, the Vendée Globe, and the IMOCA 60 circuit have all invested more heavily in sports science, physiotherapy, and nutritional planning in recent years. Understanding caloric demands at this level of granularity allows teams to design better provisioning strategies, reduce the risk of fatigue-related errors, and keep sailors performing at their peak across the most grueling stretches of ocean racing.
The data also serves as a powerful reminder that behind every remarkable feat of seamanship lies an equally remarkable feat of human endurance. Sailing around the world is not just a test of navigation and boat handling — it is a test of the body’s ability to sustain itself under extraordinary conditions, one calorie at a time.
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