Patrick O’Brian knows nothing about sailing
February 3rd, 2009That’s the story according to billionaire sailor Tom Perkins, anyway.
Tom Perkins, one of the founders of hugely successful venture capital fund Kleiner Perkins, invited the octogenarian and his novelist for a fortnight sailing on his Perini ketch, the 154 foot Andromeda la Dea.
The cruise was for two weeks, starting in Port Vendres in south-west France. Perkins reports that O’Brian “suggested a cruise circumnavigating Sicily, a stop in Greece, dropping by Beirut and winding up with a comprehensive tour of the Balearic islands… he added a desire to drop the hook in Naples, Capri and Tangiers as well.”
Perkins was amazed at how little O’Brian, the doyen of sailing adventure and the author of books such as Master and Commander and The Wine-dark Sea
, knew about the practicalities of sailing and passage planning.
The whole article “Cruising with Patrick O’Brian – The Man and the Myth” from Latitude 38 is well worth reading.