Chris' transatlantic challenge

A high stakes practical exercise in training and team management

Background to the story:
Over the past 20 years I have run companies in the UK and US training industry. I had a success with Xebec but in 2008 with Balance Learning I ran straight into the credit crunch and that was that.

So like many others I hit age 50 with the prospect of starting over again with a new business or a job and my confidence dented.

In the end I took a gamble that house prices would fall in 2008/9, sold my house, bought Hakuna Matata a 42ft Lagoon Catamaran and took my family on a trip halfway around the world and back. I have never made a better decision in my life.

After a summer and Autumn sailing from Southampton to Corfu, round the Greek Islands, to Italy and then back across the Med and to Gran Canaria via Madeira it was time to cross the big and scary Atlantic!

Kim and my two kids Jamie (11) and Alex (8) decided to go back to the UK and then fly out to meet me in St. Lucia. With limited Ocean Skipper experience I took the "easy" option and sailed with the ARC rally for the company and security of over 200 boats on the same route. I was joined by four friends with sailing experience and we had a fantastic time as you can see from my frind Ken's blog at http://www.atlanticrallyforcruisers.blogspot.com/

This blog is the story of the return transatlantic crossing as a lone boat in a big Ocean well North of the calm seas and gentle breezes we'd experienced on the ARC. By the time I reached St. Augustine in Florida I had completed over 11,000 miles as skipper, felt able to maintain and repair all the boat systems and parts and had encountered significant weather and sea conditions along the way.

So I was (I believed) ready to take on the challenge of the return crossing but with my family bound for Yellowstone and France before meeting me in Gibraltar there was the small matter of finding a crew.

Using a sailing website I offered three free places on a transatlantic sailing trip with no specific experience required. From the hundred or so volunteers I decided to select people who were looking to get personal growth or spiritual development from the trip rather than doing it for fun, experience or money.

My three crew members were:

• Jim - a French Canadian cameraman in his 50's with some experience as a skipper who wanted to try an Ocean crossing and see if a life of cruising was for him.
• Justin an engineer in his early 30's from Chicago who had experience as crew in races on the Great Lakes and who had just lost his job to the economy.
• Louise a Canadian teacher turned Oil industry project manager going for a summer sabatical working in France, she had only experienced lake sailing in a dinghy! - Brave girl.

I conducted interviews by phone and decided that these three would be good companions and crew for the trip. I knew it was a risk as we would be together for a long time in a small space in (possibly) high stress conditions - But what an interesting challenge in building a team.

These people are all very different, they know nothing about one another and all they know about me is from readng Ken's blog and a few phone conversations.

I will be spending the next four or five weeks with them crossing 3,800 miles of open Ocean in a small boat in Hurricane season (well technically).

To them I am captain Chris and whether we succeed and maintain harmony, disolve into anarchy or simply don't arrive is a high stakes practical exercise in training and team management - reality TV eat your heart out!