Life Afloat - part 3: Q&A with Jimmy Cornell
by Jimmy Cornell 7 Mar 2021 11:49 UTC
Here is the final installment of the answers to the questions from students at Kurtzebarri Secondary School in Aretxabaleta, in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, Spain.
How do you get food supplies when you are in the middle of the ocean?
For long passages you have to plan your provisioning very carefully because except for catching fish, there is really not much you can get in the middle of the ocean. Over the years I have constantly improved my provisioning, and I know now what keeps well over a long time, also what are the most useful provisions and also the most nutritious. I always make sure that we have enough fresh fruit and vegetables and, on longer passages, also a good supply of vitamins.
One of the great pleasures of cruising is going to the local market to buy fresh provisions, as I did in Panama before setting off on the passage to the Galapagos Islands. Fishing was an important source of food for us especially on long passages.
I usually was quite lucky and managed to feed the family even if occasionally I had competition.
This is all I was left with after a hungry shark got most of my fish before I managed to bring it on board.
Occasionally our next meal landed effortlessly on deck like this school of flying fish.
Something else that I like doing at sea is cooking, but on Aventura Zero we must watch the consumption of electricity because the electric cooker is very power-hungry.
... and baking bread is the worst as it takes so long, so I try to do it in the middle of the day when the sun is high and the solar panels are at their most efficient. One way to save electricity is by using a solar cooker. It works well but takes time. Fortunately that is something that you have a lot of at sea.
How has been your experience been so far on Aventura Zero?
Aventura's maiden voyage totalled over 3500 miles and was a very enjoyable experience. When I took the decision to build a fully electric boat, I was aware that this was a very ambitious project and knew that not everything would meet my expectations. This became increasingly obvious as the voyage progressed and, by the time we had reached Tenerife, I realised that we could not continue the challenging voyage ahead of us unless some essential modifications were made to the electrical system. So we sailed back to the boatyard in the south of France, where Aventura had been built, and that work is happening at this very moment. I hope to test the improved system when I return to Aventura next month.
This brings me to the end of the questions I had been asked by my friends at Kurtzebarri secondary school in Aretxabaleta, and which I have been very happy to answer. Agur!
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