Bernico International, Belgium

My trek to Belgium was originally to try out a Powerboat P1 Super Sport Donzi that was being fitted out in Klein Willebroek, a small Town 30 kilometres south of Brussels. However, after arriving at my destination, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this Was also the headquarters of Bernico international. I had, on several occasions in the past promised to visit Bernico after being nagged by OCR racer Bob McCarthy, who has been a long time client of Nico Bertels, owner of Bernico International. If you think the name Bertels rings a bell, you’d be right as the Bertels family have been fl ying the Belgium fl ag in international watersports for many years. Danny was a multi-world F3 champion while Nico himself was a top ski-racer until he damaged a knee in a soccer match and wrecked the other knee in a ski-race accident. Nico lost his father in a tragic ski-race accident when Nico was just 14. At the time, Ber tels Senior owned a chicken processing plant in Antwerp and all the family had a passion for ski-racing. Nico was an up and coming star on the circuit and after the death of his father he continued to participate in as many events as possible. However, money was short and at the end of the 1989 season Nico was offered two new engines for the following year, but he could not persuade anyone to provide him with a boat. He decided to build one for himself and, in a small garage alongside the chicken processing plant, boat number one began to take shape. As it was nearing completion a Belgium skiracer visited the garage, saw the boat and said he wanted to buy it. Nico pointed out that he was building the boat for himself, but the guy made an offer ‘too good to refuse’ and Nico set about building an identical boat for his own use. The same thing happened when a Dutchman offered a good price for it, so it was boat number three that Nico eventually fitted out for himself complete with the two engines he was promised. In 1991 the rig was to secure Nico victory in the famous Diamond skirace on the Albert Canal in Viersel with cousin Peter Bertels driving the outfit. Today, Nico owns what most of us would regard as the ‘ultimate life package’; a 20 room hotel–pub–restaurant with marina, huge workshop and showroom all located on a site alongside a canal – what more could a man want? The name Bertels was already well established among the ski-racing fraternity, and now it was notorious for boat building. Nico Bertel’s was getting enquiries from every nation involved in the sport plus many offshore racers. Bernico have built upwards of 200 boats which include ski-boats, Class 3 offshore rigs and OCR outfits. The craft are renowned for their quality and I assumed a 21 foot ski-race boat in Nico’s workshop, fitted with a 600hp V8, was brand new, awaiting delivery to its owner until the guy polishing its mauve metallic gelcoat assured me the craft was at least two years old. I asked how Nico came to acquire such a desirable waterside complex, and it seems he can thank his mother-in-law for being in the right place at the right time. She was visiting friends in the area and decided to drop into the restaurant of Fevaca Hotel in Klein Willebroek which was owned by Felix Vancauwenber, who had been Nico’s ski-race driver in 1994. As they were enjoying lunch, mother-in-law Bertels casually enquired what Felix planned to do with a new large vacant building in the yard opposite the hotel. He explained that he had built it with a view to fitting out and storing boats, but had rather lost enthusiasm in the project. Nico was looking for a large workshop to fit out his range of performance boats, and to cut a long story short, whilst Felix was keen to sell the large building, the buyer would have to purchase the hotel, restaurant, pub and marina and slipway too. It was certainly a very ambitious scheme, but one which was successfully completed, and today craft are still moulded in Antwerp and transported to Klein Willebroek for fitting out, although plans are currently underway to construct a new moulding shop on land behind the fitting out shop. As I mentioned earlier, I was in Belgium to try out the Donzi P1 boat that had been fitted out in Nico’s workshops, and it transpires he has designed, and is about to start building, the plug for a 41 foot P1 hull. I’ve seen the drawings and must confess the boat looks superb, plus I can guarantee the finish on the craft will be of the highest quality. Nico’s life is now complete – a happy family with wife Elke, who runs her own business as a manicurist, his 18 year old daughter Bo and 14 year old son Buby, plus a thriving business. Are there any regrets? “I live on the job and therefore my clients expect me to be on call 24 hours a day. However I love what I do, so it’s not a problem. If I want a bit of peace and quiet I can always step aboard a boat and go cruising the canal.”