We fly because of the weather, not despite it,” says Adam Alpert, a passionate commercial pilot and the owner of the 197ft Perini Navi Seahawk. That motto, which he heard from Robert Buck, TWA’s chief pilot when Howard Hughes owned the airline, applies to his life on board. “A windy day for a motor yacht is an inconvenience, maybe even threatening. For us, it’s a blessing. It is magnificent to sail that boat - an empowering feeling.”
With visceral gratification also comes intellectual pleasure. “There’s a difference between knowing the name of something and understanding how it works but most people confuse those two things,” he says. “Flying teaches you this and sailing does too, especially complicated sailing boats like Seahawk. For curious people, it is kind of fun because you really can figure out what’s going on when you turn that key, so to speak.”
Intellectual curiosity has always been part of Alpert’s life, from his mathematics and computer science degree to his first job in nuclear power, his second in aerospace, and his later career as
