Fueling the Impossible: Team Seneca Navy Rowing Entire Atlantic

No-Cook Meal to Fuel Rowing 3,000 Miles Across the Atlantic

5 Day ago, four rowers pushed off from La Gomera in the Canary Islands and pointed their 29-foot boat toward Antigua. Between them and the finish line: 3,000 miles of Atlantic Ocean, no support vessels, and (weather depending) 30-40 days of two-hours-on, two-hours-off shifts around the clock.

Team Seneca Navy, made up by Moritz Marchart, David Ranney, Ryan Mulflur, and Anthony Carella - first came together on the flat water of Seneca Lake as teammates at Hobart College in upstate New York. Now they're trading collegiate racing for the World's Toughest Row, an unsupported ocean crossing that will push them to the edge of what's physically and mentally possible.

"When we first learned about it, we were all looking at it as the impossible task," says Marchart. "But then just by taking the first step, working towards getting the boat, starting our training, we realized that yeah, it can be super, super tough, but it's possible."

The team has spent nearly a year working with a sports psychologist and logged over 14 nights aboard their vessel, LIONHEART, including a 110-hour test row. They've analyzed their personalities, established non-negotiables, and learned exactly what breaks down first when exhaustion sets in.

The answer, almost always, is nutrition.

The Caloric Math: What's Needed to Fuel Rowing Across the Atlantic

Race requirements mandate a minimum of 30 calories per kilogram of body weight per day. For the Seneca Navy crew, that translates to 5,500 to 6,000 calories each — roughly 24,000 calories daily for the team. Multiply that across 55 days of required provisions, and you're looking at well over a million calories that need to fit inside a boat with two sleeping cabins and three rowing positions.

"We row 12 to 14 hours a day, we're going to be really tired," Marchart explains. "We don't want to spend a lot of time making food. We need things that are really efficient. We also don't have a lot of space — packing the boat was a nightmare. We had to unpack twice because stuff didn't fit."

Space and time are only part of the equation. Seasickness can make solid food nearly impossible to stomach. And the consequences of falling behind on calories compound fast.

"If we don't eat or drink enough for a couple of shifts, it goes downhill pretty quickly," Marchart says.

Seven Minutes to Fuel

The team's nutrition strategy combines freeze-dried meals, simple snacks like crackers and Pringles that go down easy during seasickness, and liquid calories. Each rower carries two RecPaks per day, accounting for roughly 25 percent of their daily caloric intake.

For Marchart, the value comes down to the reality of life aboard LIONHEART.

"There are times where I wake up seven minutes before my next shift, and I have to be on time — that's one of our non-negotiables," he says. "But if I don't eat enough, I'm definitely going to feel it during that second hour. With RecPak, I can fill in some water, I'm ready in a minute, and I can consume it within a minute. Within a minute I've got 700 calories, over 40 grams of protein, tons of vitamins and minerals. With the coffee one, I also get some caffeine."

The self-contained pouch format eliminates the cleanup and mess that plagued his earlier experiments with powdered meals. "What differentiates it from other liquid meals is that we don't have to take care of a bottle. Those get nasty pretty quickly in the heat at sea."

More Than a Race

Team Seneca Navy is registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, raising funds for four youth development organizations including The Foundry, a community rowing and sailing center in Cleveland that provides access to water sports for low-income youth.

"We all got so much from rowing and from sports," Marchart says. "We want to make sure that kids who may come from low-income households have the same access."

When asked about chasing the current four-man record of 29 days, Marchart stays measured. "I definitely think we can be a very competitive team. We're going to go out as hard as possible. But for now, we just have to focus on getting the boat ready and focus on the next shift."

The team expects to be out for 30-40 days, depending on weather condition. Follow their crossing on Instagram @team.seneca.navy or track their progress and position in the race on www.worldstoughestrow.com.