Water and Food for a Sea Trip

A trip rarely fails on the rod or bait. It fails because the cooler was opened twenty times and the water ran out before lunch. Loading water and food is a job for the night before, not the morning you leave late for the marina.

Water: settle the number first

In Kuwait summer heat, plan 3 to 4 litres of drinking water per person for a full day, less in winter. Add half a litre per child, because kids ask constantly and spill half of what they hold.

Freeze small bottles overnight. They chill the cooler on the drive out, and once they melt you drink them instead of carrying dead weight. Keep big bottles for tea and rinsing, small ones for drinking.

Ice: block or cubes?

A block lasts far longer than cubes; it has less surface area for its size. Cubes are for the tea glass, the block keeps the cooler alive through July.

Give drinks their own small cooler. Every time someone opens the main cooler for water, hot air goes in and ice goes out. The drinks cooler opens all day without touching the food.

Food that survives the heat

• Bread, tinned cheese, olives and pickles: slow to spoil and need no refrigeration.
• Chicken or fish grilled the night before, packed cold in a sealed box, eaten first.
• Whole fruit like apples and oranges, washed at home and not on the boat.
• Nuts, dates and crackers to cover the gap between meals without caring about the sun.
• Cucumber and carrot sticks in a box beat crisps when everyone is hot and thirsty.

Skip mayo-heavy sandwiches, cream fillings and yoghurt-based salads. They turn fastest in the sun, and the smell is a problem on a small boat.

Hot drinks and the flask

A good flask earns its space on trips that start before dawn. Fill it at home, keep it out of direct sun, and tea after lunch beats another cold drink.

If someone feels the swell, keep it plain: salty crackers, dates and water that is cool rather than icy. Fried food and strong smells make nausea worse, so leave those on shore.

Kids and guests

Give each child a small bottle with their name on it; they will not share one all day. For guests, keep a ready box of water, biscuits and peeled fruit.

Night before vs morning of

• Night before: bottles into the freezer, buy the ice, pack cold food in sealed boxes, charge the batteries.
• Morning of: ice goes in last, then the flask and the water that does not need cooling.
• Before you leave: check sea state and tide, and load for the day you actually have.

Cooler placement and weight

Heavy low and central, light on the sides. The big cooler goes where it cannot slide with the swell, and the one that opens constantly sits near the crew. Never put a cooler on a hatch cover or beside the engine, where heat is highest.

Rubbish and leaving no trace

Bring bin bags from home: one for dry waste, one for scraps. The islands have no cleaning service, and anything you leave behind comes back on the next swell. Crush empty bottles into the bag, never over the side.

The night before, the B7R app gives you tide times for Shuwaikh and Shuaiba and the sea state, plus a catch log for after. The whole plan takes fifteen minutes.

Download the B7R app free on Google Play and check the sea and the tide before your next trip from this link.