Visit Bernico International 3 June 2010
Luc Vermeiren from Powerboatracing.be was so kind to set up a meeting for us with Nico Bertels and a visit to the Bernico yard in Belgium. With Bernico building world class boats and Nico being the Chief Mechanic for the Lucas Oil / Scandinavian Offshore Challenge team competing in UIM Grand Prix of the Sea, this was an offer we would not refuse. So we packed up for Belgium and met with Luc and Nico in the sun on the terrace of the marina adjacent to Nico´s Bernico factory in Willebroek Belgium.
Nico tells us the funny story on how his boating business came into being. At a young age Nico was involved in waterskiing and had received two outboard engines as part of a sponsor deal. The boats he could afford at the time could not handle the amounts of horsepower and the boats that could handle the power, Nico couldn´t afford. So Nico was in a tight spot. Not one to be caught outdone, Nico decided to build his own boat. One that would be fast, could handle all the horsepower and that would get him high up the ranks in the waterskiing championships. Before Nico could enter the boat into the racing he had a customer for it. Same story for the second boat. It was only the third boat Nico built that made it into racing the championship. With this sort of early success, Nico decided it was time to put his boat building talent into a business and founded Bernico International. Now many years later, the Bernico brand is an international leader in the waterskiing championships and the home market of Belgium now only still makes up for 30% of the sales. The rest of the boats goes abroad. Nico has evolved his Bernico business to include waterskiing boats, fast pleasure boats, powerboats and even ribs with every boat being build to customer specific wishes. Other high profile designs are under discussion at the moment but that is for another time to be discussed.
The design and build of the Bernico boats did not go unnoticed and also Nico’s talents as a mechanic became noted in the rest of the racing world. In the 2009 Powerboat P1 World Championship, Nico was asked by Team 26 SW1 Capital to do the maintenance on their Donzi entry in the SuperSport Championship. Nico in this capacity was part of a very successful team that in the end managed to get 6 victories in a 10 race World Championship. For this year Nico himself has moved on to the Lucas Oil / Scandinavian Offshore Challenge team piloted by Nigel Hook and Michael Silfverberg racing in the Evolution Class of the UIM Grand Prix of the Sea World Championship. Bigger and faster boats with bigger engines and being the chief mechanic have made for a new challenge for Nico. Bernico is still involved though with team 26 with a Bernico crew doing the maintenance for them.
Next race on in the UIM Grand Prix of the Sea championship will be the Malta race from 11 – 13 June. This means on a Tuesday before the race weekend, Nico will go to the venue and start preparing the boat for testing and PowerPole, which are typically held on the Friday of the racing weekend. Saturday follows with a sprint race and Sunday sees the boats leaving the dock for the endurance race. This means for every race of the season, Nico has to spend about a week away from his own business to get his job as a chief mechanic done. But Nico puts a lot of trust in his co-workers and feels confident that they will manage without his presence. Of course there is also a name to be made for the Bernico brand when Nico performs well in his role as chief engineer. And most important, Nico has a lot of fun doing it and already looks forward to the racing in Malta.
For the fun of it Nico also started waterskiing again. And also, he admits, to get in a better physical condition. Apart from that, Nico’s son is now also participating in waterskiing championships, so waterskiing is a fun father and son thing to do. When not away in the weekend to perform for the LOSOC Evolution team, Nico performs on the water himself and loves to drive the boat for his son’s waterskiing races.
Another thing Nico is busy with now is organizing the Bernico Poker Run, to be held in the weekend of 7 to 8 of August. Both Nico and Luc tell us it is always a nice event, lots of people coming together and having fun with their boat. The way a Poker Run weekend should be. Much to our own delight we had to promise Nico we would be there and report back on it on PowerboatPro. So check back regularly here for news on the Bernico Poker Run and developments with the Bernico brand and Nico’s exploits as a mechanic in the UIM Grand Prix of the Sea.
Article and pictures courtesy of Nico Bertels
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