Crashing through waves in a luxury yacht en route for the Caribbean is the stuff dreams are made of. But Chris Thompson, who returned earlier this year from a transAtlantic odyssey, found that even the voyage of a lifetime can be spoilt by a spot of bad weather.
 Thirty-foot waves lashed the chief executive of the Team Valley-based Express Group, while his two-month trip was helped along by winds of more than 40 knots. The 5,500-mile voyage took the team from the tip of Cape Town to the island of St Vincent in the West Indies in search of adventure. A five-man crew - Mr Thompson, retired businessmen Alan Lindsay and John Gibson, former Newcastle United skipper Bob Moncur and chartered accountant Lawrence Carey - invested more than £250,000 to indulge a dream. "I got romanced by the idea of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sail across the Atlantic," explained Mr Thompson. "Chances like this don't come up very often, and I think everyone has a boyhood dream that they should live out. "It was a mental and a physical challenge. We knew that once we were out there we were on our own." Mr Thompson is now back on terra firma in the plush Gateshead offices of the Express Group, a company which turned over £30m last year. His spare time is spent piloting planes and helicopters, plus driving historic rally cars; the voyage added to the list of life experiences. Speaking in his luxurious office, reclining in a black leather chair surrounded by sculptures, Mr Thompson says: "It was an amazing experience and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but I would never do it again. "There were several times I would have paid a fortune to get back to shore." The trip was not without danger. "When you are 700 miles out to sea you are out of radio contact with land and there is no possibility of the coastguard coming to your rescue," explained Mr Thompson. "The only hope is that a passing ship will hear your distress signal. "We knew the risks when we left. It was factored into the decision to make the journey." Bob Moncur - famed as the former captain of both Sunderland and Newcastle United, and currently a media football pundit - skippered the boat, as the most experienced sailor among the crew. He completed his first long-distance voyage - a journey around the British Isles in a 25ft boat - in 1984 and has crossed the Atlantic a number of times since. However the trip across the Southern Atlantic - broken up by a 48-hour stop on the remote British outpost of St Helena - put both Mr Moncur's navigational skills and the team's new toy to the test. Local Hero - a 47ft catamaran - was built in a Cape Town boatyard, and completed just days before the executives arrived. "The feelings before we left ranged from excitement and anticipation to concern; I had never done a trip like this before but I was aware of the dangers," he said. "I knew that if things had gone wrong at sea there was very little chance of returning." Fantasies of clear blue seas quickly evaporated. "The weather wasn't great when we set off," said Mr Thompson. "The swell has to be seen to be believed, with waves that are at least 30ft high. After setting sail from Cape Town, several weeks passed before the crew set foot on land again. St Helena, however, is far removed from the popular desert island cliche of palm trees and castaways. It is a volcanic outpost of the British Empire. "It is about as far from paradise as you can get, said Mr Thompson Local Hero is now berthed in the Caribbean, where Bob Moncur will be managing it and arranging charter trips. For Mr Thompson, however, the journey ended with a flight back to Manchester Airport. Waiting for him was the empire he has built up over more than 20 years. "When I came back to work on the Monday morning I felt revitalised, determined, and enthusiastic about getting back. It did not take long to get back into the swing of things," he said. | 
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