Make your new year’s resolutions manageable for life on board.
December is chock full of celebrations. Bubbles galore, cheeseboards everywhere you look and more sumptuous spreads than any person reasonably needs over a month-long period. It is my sincere hope that crew still get to enjoy the festivities somewhat, at least a tiny bit, once all the guests have finally gone to bed. I have a fond memory of enjoying a cheeky glass of champagne at midnight, on my militantly dry boat (our captain let it slide just this one time), watching the fireworks over St Barth’s from a hidden spot on deck where the guests couldn’t see us, having served the final dish of an 11-course tasting menu. Nothing tasted as good as that glass of champagne after a hard night’s toil.
A stocking hung on my cabin door by a thoughtful stew made working yet another festive period away from family and friends that little bit more bearable. Leftovers flying out from the galley are at least festive, and any chef worth their salt ensures the crew get a proper Christmas feast, which helps to bridge that gap between work and home. It’s a busy (and lucrative) time for crew, and we stretch ourselves to our thinnest, bending over backwards to make magical memories for the families we’re working for. January should hopefully bring some blessed relief, as everyone takes a collective sigh — sad for the festivities to be over, but secretly relieved to have a little well-earned downtime.
And what goes up must come down. We’ve all been there. January is the month to reinvent ourselves. Gone is the gluttony of December. No more foie gras, no more Baileys on tap, no more truffle cheese everything. We can be fickle beings sometimes, with our food choices waxing and waning like the moon. Guests are notorious for starting their day with the best of intentions. Egg-white omelets, celery juice, turmeric and ginger shots — clean eating reigns supreme at breakfast. But as the day wears on, the self-control starts to ebb. Nightfall brings orders of French fries, burgers and nachos.
Then January comes, and something stirs inside us yacht crew. Is it perhaps time to take up a new sport? Bouldering looks like fun; I just need a pair of those rubber shoes and some chalk. Ooh and roller blading looks pretty cool. Maybe I’ll become one of those girls who weave in and out of tourists. What about a gravel bike — do the deck crew think there’s any space to keep one in the laz?
As any seasoned yachtie knows, Decathlon is the spot for radical reinvention. Aisles upon aisles greet you with gear to try any sport you can imagine, all the way from entry level to semi pro. Horse riding, triathlons, spearfishing — they’ve literally got it all and it’s under one roof.
But when that time for reinvention rolls around, before telling your humble chef of your plans to go vegan, keto or paleo, know that reinvention doesn’t require deprivation, and changes don’t have to be drastic or extreme to be effective. Having a healthy salad once in a blue moon isn’t going to make you glow from the inside out, just like having the occasional McDonald’s isn’t going to ruin absolutely everything. The reality is that the decisions you make most of the time have the biggest impact on your health. Making your default, baseline choices healthy ones will have the biggest impact.
So maybe this January, instead of drastic resolutions, we just make some small, manageable changes to a few choice habits. Stretch every morning before leaving your cabin, drink a bit more water than fizzy drinks, or prioritize eating sitting down at least once a day. Think of some little tweaks that fit into your life on board, instead of trying to drastically overhaul too much, too quickly.
So as the fireworks fade and the last of the tinsel finds its way back into the bilge, here’s to a new year of balance. Of taking care of ourselves so that we can better take care of others. And at the end of the day, there’s no better place to reset your compass than at sea.