Recent reads -- Mine's Bigger

Mine's Bigger
David A. Kaplan

A book about Tom Perkins' 289' boat, Maltese Falcon. (Link to yacht's Web page.)

Having visited the builder, Perini Navi, many times in Viareggio I was interested in this book and project for countless reasons. I remember seeing the first drawings of this around 2000 and wondering out loud not just about its length but the rig. I also interviewed Perkins for the New York Yacht Club newsletter when the boat was first launched and went for its first sail.

During my interview, and while reading the book, I was struck by several things:

1. The extraordinary amount of risk analysis that went into this. In short, Perkins wanted to make as sure as he could that his radical ideas would work and spent $10 million testing the hull and rig concepts. In the end it worked but he figured it was better spending $10 million and not building the boat than spending $120 million and creating a failure.
2. Perkins' ability to come up with some pretty extraordinary ideas and to get things done. Much is made of his ego but it strikes me that without someone like Perkins boats like this would never get built. Obviously without Perkins nobody would have bought such a boat. But it was his push and drive that got this done. He spotted the hull in Turkey and was the one who agreed the rig concept was worth trying. A boat builder, acting on its own, would not have created this idea.
3. The magnitude of forces. A boat this large is not just a design feat but an engineering feat. The forces on the rig and hull and come into play are beyond our comprehension. Lots of time is spent talking about Athena and Mirabella V, two comparable yachts, and the limitations they face on tacking and jibing. (For example, Mirabella can't jibe according to its insurance policy.)
4. How every one of these large boats has an incredible interior design that oftentimes proves impractical, if not unsafe. For example, the galley does not have gimbaled stoves and the author tells a story of flying across the head (called bathroom on these boats) and banging his head (as in the compartment that holds his brain) because of the beautiful, yet slick, marble floor. Along the same lines, I have also been amused at the arrogance of some designers who have no problem designing these dangerous features and then blaming the builder for not following instructions or, worse, not understanding that a sailboat heels when it sails. Part of a larger topic of how common sense seems to have taken a back seat on these boats.

Having said that, what was created is truly an amazing feat. Worth reading.