An email home from Phil Sharp made me smile today. The Jersey-based sailor and his co-skipper David Krizek have had an eventful race in the two-handed AG2R from France to St Barths, mixing with the frontrunners before slipping back to 20th.

Now they are within a day of the finish, Phil has been dreaming – as ocean racers invariably do – of food, glorious food. But it’s no commonplace craving for a cheeseburger. Here’s Phil’s fantasy menu:

‘Starter: The most expensive foie gras in St Barths
Entre-Plate: Large plate of carpaccio with roquefort topping
Pre Mains: Quattro formaggi pizza with extra blue cheese
Mains: Chateaubriand (rare) with pepper sauce and large portion of fries
Dessert: Deep forest double-trouble chocolate gateau
Cheese: Boursin, savoyard, Brest blue, gorgonzola.’

May we suggest washing all that down with a bottle of Lafite and a nice Chateau d’Yquem, followed by a fat Montecristo No. 2 hand-rolled on the thigh of a Cuban virgin?