Interview Gino Passchier 24 March 2010
Today an interview with Gino Passchier from Belgium. Born on December 4th1967, Gino is the Belgium part of the German-Belgian team Searex competing in Powerboat P1’s Evolution Class. With Gino at the throttles, the team is completed with drivers Mark Niemann and Siegfried Greve with Siegfried Greve being the team owner and company owner of Searex boats. Being one for speed, Gino was also part of the world record- breaking team to take the world speed record in a P1 boat at Coniston UK, being clocked at 122.9 mph (197,8 kph).
With all this excitement going on on the water, you might expect Gino to choose a quiet job and take rest at home. Actually, it is very much the opposite. Gino has a very intense job as a firefighter/rescue worker/paramedic in De Haan Belgium, so there is no taking it easy when he’s not competing.
With the unveiling of their 2010 boat at the Düsseldorf boat show in the end of January, Searex was one of the first teams to do so. With this early unveiling, Searex appears to be ready for the 2010 Powerboat P1 season. Let’s get to know Gino a bit better and ask how he looks ahead to the 2010 Powerboat P1 Evolution class World Championship.
About his adrenalin filled life, Gino has to add that for him to grow as a racer and as a human being, he needs pressure. The search for a challenge started off with the line of work he chose to be in. It is Gino´s firm belief that taking the right decisions under pressure makes you grow as a person. Gino had been a long follower of powerboat racing before he started racing seriously for the first time with the Flanders Offshore racing team. His performances at the controls did not go unnoticed and Gino was hijacked by the Powerboat P1 evolution team of Searex owned by Siegfried Greve.
Gino’s life as a powerboat racer means that he travels a lot. Gino describes himself as the sort of person that loves to travel but also loves to come home. He needs the change of scenery to be on his toes and perform at his best. This busy life also means that Gino has no real time to build a social life or have a wife and family. But Gino is fine with that. He looks at the global powerboating scene as his family and also finds his social needs fulfilled within that world. As Gino puts it, “whenever I want to go out or take my mind off of things, I just go to a party. There is always something going on in this world, either at home, with the team or at some other social function related to powerboating”. He makes it clear though that he is in it for the racing and that the glamour lifestyle that is a part of the powerboating world is a nice perk. No more than that.
A challenge that Gino faces being part of the Searex team is that it is a German-Belgian cooperation. Asked how he deals with that, Gino answers that as he knows how to speak German, and that is the main language spoken within the team between pilots and pit crew, and in the cockpit the commands are given in German. But, communication with race control and in the pit is done in English. “With some crews it is sometimes more difficult to communicate,” Gino adds “But in that case, we manage with a combination of languages and our hands and feet.”
Looking from the outside in, it seemed that last year’s biggest hindrance in finishing up front in the Powerboat P1 evolution races was failing of the engines. When we put this statement to Gino, he agrees that to win a race one would at least have to finish it. That is how simple things are in racing. He disagrees though that it had anything to do with the engines. It was the water system that was the main problem in finishing higher up the tables. He further explains that the engines use seawater to be cooled. If the amount of water you need for cooling cannot enter the boat, your engines overheat, which happened to the Searex team on several occasions last year. Also water spilled from the cooling system into the boat, which meant the boat’s electronics were affected. All of this put together makes Gino come to the conclusion that is was the water system that let them down most this year. But coping with these sorts of problems is also what makes you stand out as a good throttle man. As Gino puts it, a good throttle man has one eye on the water and one on the instruments. It is his job as soon as the meters indicate a serious problem to go off the gas and bring home the equipment in one piece to be able to race another day.
Of course the Searex team also took measures to better the situation with the water system for the 2010 season. One of the measures taken for the new boat is that the sea strainers are better positioned in the engine bay to decrease chances for faults in the system. Also the team now uses other tubing for several parts of the cooling system that can withstand higher pressures. Also the wiring has been even better protected in the new boat. All these measures give Gino the feeling that they have a very reliable and fast boat for Powerboat P1’s evolution World Championships in the 2010 season.
Racing is not only about speed and winning but also about safety. Searex took a careful look at where they could improve the safety of the boat and took measures accordingly. One thing the Searex team took a careful look at was where all the intakes (air and water) were positioned on the boat and where they could jointly improve on safety and performance. Lessons from the past had shown them that if the boat landed in the water in an unusual position after a roll or crash, the impact of the water rushing in thrue the intakes could seriously jeopardize the structural integrity of the cockpit. In case of an accident, you would want the structure of the cockpit at least to stay intact. By putting the air intakes away from the cockpit and more towards the back of the boat, as the Searex team did on the boat for the 2010 season, you increase those chances. The team also bought a new five-point harness for the crew to keep them strapped in and protect them in the boat. A last thing the team hope to be able to implement before the season starts is to have full face masks with an oxygen supply for the crew to protect them if they would become trapped in the boat under water in case of an accident.
Participating in P1 for a number of years now, Gino should be able to give us some clues on how competing in Powerboat P1´s evolution class supports the Searex brand. Gino thinks the branding through Powerboat P1 is great. He even gets recognized in faraway places like Miami. And Searex, a brand that custom builds every single boat that gets ordered, garners attention from all over the world on the basis of having been seen performing in P1. Gino does say though that it’s been a tough year for the sport and as a boat manufacturer. Actually, one of the toughest years he’s seen. Why? Because sponsors don’t easily take the step to join the sport, and because of that very talented pilots are standing on the sidelines. It’s a trickle down effect- with limited sponsors; there are no boats available for them to race in. And there were only a limited amount of evolution teams participating the Powerboat P1 world championships last year.
Gino foresees a bit of a recovery for this year but also strongly believes there are some long-term developments that need to be addressed to make to sport flourish even more. First of all, Gino sees that the green thinking is not going to go away and rightfully so. Also sponsors take the environment seriously. That is why Gino thinks racing organizations should be involved in organizing races with boats running on bio-diesel. But above all Gino is convinced that powerboating should be marketed better. There are environmental impact studies that show that there is a big discrepancy between how people view powerboating as a polluting sport and the actual pollution caused by powerboating. Gino is convinced that the racing series and the governing bodies alike need to do a better job in educating the public on the actual amount of pollution that is caused by the sport
Gino believes that another way to make the sport flourish more is to explore more and better TV coverage. He is obviously delighted that P1 is going to continue their partnership with Eurosport, but states the P1 shows are never aired on prime time. That is why Gino is convinced all avenues that generate media attention should be investigated. This made him seize the opportunity with both hands when he was approached to be a co-organizer for the Blade run Western Europe. This rally from town to town based on the poker run concept generates a lot of media attention Gino wants to capitalize on. That is why Searex will be participating in the Bladerun event with their P1 boat to generate attention towards their exploits in the Powerboat P1 evolution series.
Asked for his 2010 predictions, Gino sees the Searex team as a serious contender for the title. The team to beat he estimates will be SNAV OSG. The dark horse, becoming less of a dark horse because everybody is tipping them, is the Seagull Chaudron team in Gino´s eyes.
Since we did the interview at the end of March and now the first of May, a lot has happened and a lot has changed. A World Championship was cancelled and than brought to life again by scores of people but in particular Mr. Jean-Marie van Lancker and the participating teams. After a period of unrest the P1 season is set to go in the weekend of 7 – 9 May. Also Gino is in a relationship now. This only goes to say that the powerboating world is a fast one and things change quickly. Therefore keep up to date with the latest here on PowerboatPro and check back regularly. We will follow Searex and the UIM P1 World Championship during the season and keep you up to date with what is going on….
Pictures used in this interview courtesy of Gino Passchier and Searex Racing Team
For more information on Gino and his exploits in the powerboating world, please also check:
