I read the books, and enjoyed them in the early 2000s. I was quite amused to see the article on O'Brian in Yachting World in 2004 when I was halfway through the series. I don't have a link to the yachting world article, but the BBC article seems to be a reasonable summary of what I think I remember reading in yachting world: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3570988.stm

I think the yachting world and BBC article were following up on Tom Perkins original story published in latitude38: https://www.latitude38.com/features/O%27Brian.htm