A CHANCE meeting more than 1,500 miles from home led to a precision engineer helping round-the-world yachtsman David Scott Cowper to stay on course for adventure.

Team Valley based Express Engineering used specialist inspection equipment – normally used to check the sub-sea valves it manufactures – to diagnose a defect which was throwing Polar Bound’s rudder out of alignment.

The rudder and shaft of the boat are designed to withstand 90 tonnes of pressure when pack ice squeezes the vessel so exact engineering is critical. Diagnostics revealed that one of the three bearings required attention.

A dummy shaft was machined and fitted to determine the how far bearing was out and a new bearing was made and positioned off-centre, to create the correct alignment when assembled.

The operation followed an encounter between the six time solo circumnavigator and Nigel Davison, the chief executive of Express Group who is also a keen sailor.

After cruising the east coast of Greenland for two weeks without sighting another vessel, Mr Davison and his two companions arrived at a lonely settlement to find the only mooring was taken by Polar Bound. Recognising vessel from Newcastle-upon-Tyne as that of the famous yachtsman, they made contact.

“When David found out that I was an engineer he explained the problem he was having with his rudder and started asking me questions about analysis and specialist materials,” said Mr Davison. “I said that we may be able to help him out when he got back to the UK.

“He took up the offer, transporting the quarter ton rudder from Scotland to Tyneside and we were able to carry out the diagnostics and delicate repair, which will hopefully ensure Polar Bound stays on course for many years to come.”

The next big test for the boat will be when the 72-year-old record breaking yachtsman attempts his seventh transit of the Northwest Passage next year - once again up into the High Arctic to attempt another untried route.

He said: “Finding an organisation which had the capability of undertaking such intricate adjustments would have been very time consuming – if not well-nigh impossible – as not many boat yards have equipment as specialised as Express Engineering and so I was very glad to take up Nigel’s kind offer.”

“Although the true test will come when I go to sea again, having reassembled the rudder for the first time, it turns with ease and smoothness and everything appears to be as it should be.”

Mr Davison, an amateur sailor for 15 years, has been with Express Engineering for almost twice as long and has recently overseen a £10m-plus expansion programme which means the company now employs almost 500 in three locations - the Tyneside based oil and gas business, the aerospace and industrial division at Stokesley in North Yorkshire and in Brazil, where it owns and operates Petrotec.