“I got asked to do it”, says Keith Breslauer, Patron Capital’s managing director, after being questioned on what inspired him to take part in a 100-mile paddle across the English Channel.
We are sitting in the company’s new offices at 33 Glasshouse Street in London’s Piccadilly, the reception of which is populated with photos of the group's various fundraising and charitable activities, with which it and its boss have become synonymous.
Since 2010, Breslauer and Patron have raised around £5.3 million for the RMA – The Royal Marines Charity. They have helping more than 460 serving and retired service personnel, driven by Breslauer's ethos of giving back to the community.
Having crossed the Channel in a Klepper folding kayak alongside 19 serving and veteran Royal Marines to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day earlier this month, Breslauer describes the challenge as "pretty brutal" when describing the conditions on the sea.
"We were paddling against Force Five winds and facing waves as high as the ceiling in this little clipper,” he says. "This is not a fancy sea capsule, but an inflatable, foldable, heavy beast with stuff in it. You are freaked out about flipping it, you’re in the dark – it is just crazy".
Joining Breslauer and the RMA Paddle Group, formed of veteran and serving Commandos from across from across the Royal Navy, the Army and the Royal Air Force, on the crossing were veterans rehabilitated by the Hasler Naval Service Recovery Centre in Devon.
Starting on 3 June at the Royal Marines Yomper at Eastney, Portsmouth, the Paddle Group achieved the crossing in less than 24 hours, with their route ending up over 200 kilometres long due to winds and currents. They also travelled through the night.
With little more than a paddle and the sound of waves, Breslauer says his partner and the rest of the group helped him to get through the challenge when the odds seemed against him, taking inspiration from their experience of combat and ability to push through.
Breslauer says: "I had a guy in the boat who had very severe traumatic stress from his experiences in Afghanistan, he was shot multiple times, and he recovered through becoming an expert paddler – he led the group.
"It was transformational because you go in the boat, you are with these people who have been through hell, and it’s really quite amazing because you get this whole other dynamic."
Breslauer's links with the Royal Marines ironically started high above sea level, where he met a member of the Special Boat Service on an annual skiing trip, who connected him with members of the Hasler Company, a military unit.
Realising a desire to do more for those who have experienced combat, Breslauer says he invited members of the unit on to the next skiing trip, which he describes as “changing everything” and the start of his relationship with the Marines.
“I discovered that there were this group of people, I think there were around 7,000 active Marines at the time, who were at the spearhead of the conflict, who suffer the most injuries, and no one [cared] about them.
“I said to myself, we are not doing enough in this country for these people, we’re just not. So, it became a sort of passion project, and somewhere that I could make a difference. Fast forward and we have got the RMA – the Royal Marines Charity, and we raise them around a million to two million a year."
The Patron boss says that training for the event, which he did for no more than one and a half hours a day, provided an escape from work. He adds that talks of funds and real estate remained outside the paddle during the Channel crossing as well.
But he says that paddling and his nine-to-five are similar in the fact that there is a goal to achieve. Breslauer adds that the key to succeeding at most things in life is breaking the challenge up into smaller challenges to avoid being overwhelmed.
"In terms of the business, our goal is that each fund has to perform, has to make money. Not only does each fund have to make money, they are made up of around 20 investments. Each investment has its problems, its successes.
"We have to look at each one and see what we’ve got…each one has to be solved and, if I put it all together, I move forward a bit farther. It's the same thing [when I’m out at sea]. That philosophy exists in every aspect of life, the philosophy that you can’t lose site of the big goal. You have to break it down."
After 20 hours at sea, the Paddle Group reached the Port-en-Bessin, France, on 4 June, with toasties and beer the only form of subsistence at the finish line. All funds raised through the expedition are being matched by Patron Capital, extending the parties's long-running charitable partnership.
Breslauer, Patron and the RMA have worked extensively with the Hasler Naval Service Recovery Centre to help war veterans preparing to re-enter civilian life through donations to fund specialist equipment and respite breaks for them and their families at Patron-owned hotels. They also help make introductions to source relevant internship and career opportunities.
Reflecting again on why he holds charity close to his heart, he says: "I think it is extremely important for Patron as a business to give to the community, and for me to give back, and I think that’s what I do.
"It sounds corny, but it’s fundamentally true, you have an enormous positive feeling, it’s self-reinforcing. The minute you get on that ladder of giving back, it’s easier to do and you can be incredibly successful at it."