Pilot Blog - Gino Passchier

The #66 Cranefields Wine boat's Belgian throttleman is a firefighter with a strong link to Portugal

I’m looking forward to going to Portugal this weekend. It’s not my first visit. In my profession – as a firefighter – I went to Portugal about three years ago because they had a big problem with forest fires. The Belgian government wasn’t doing anything to help the Portuguese government, so I said to a few of my buddies at my fire station that we should just buy ourselves some tickets and fly over to help if we could. So, we went to Coimbra, and worked for three days.

When I’m back in Belgium, I work at two fire stations – as a volunteer in the town where I live, and as a specialised airport firefighter in the airport at Ostend. I’m also a fire and rescue diver and EMS (Emergency Medical Service) specialist. It’s not only Portugal that I’ve been to, though. I went to New York and Richmond in Virginia in the USA as part of a training programme. That was totally different. People are shooting at firefighter and EMS operators every day, particularly in Richmond. I thought the Bronx was bad, but Richmond was the worst I’ve ever seen! You’re fighting fires and dodging bullets, all at the same time. They give EMS guys a bullet-proof jacket, and we had bullet holes in the side of the fire station.

I got into firefighting about 11 years ago as a professional, but I’ve been doing it about 15 years in total. I was originally a cobbler, hand-making shoes for people with disabilities in my own shop in Bruges. I felt kind of locked up in that, but it totally changed when I went to an open day in the fire station in Bruges, and I knew I had to alter my life. After doing four years as a volunteer, I realised that meant I was 100 per cent focused, and that I enjoyed firefighting, so I decided to do it full-time.

Those – and powerboating – aren’t my only ‘careers’. I used to do a bit of modelling for some companies in Belgium and abroad, and that led me into doing backing vocals for a couple of artists. Not that I could sing, they just needed my face.

There was a big awards TV programme in Belgium in 2001, with six million viewers, that invited Tina Turner and Sir Cliff Richard as their big stars. Cliff was performing his song ‘We Don’t Talk Any More’, and they needed two backing singers, who looked quite neat. I met Cliff for a couple of hours before the show to rehearse the act. He was very friendly, and happy with how we performed.

My EMS work also led me to meet Colin Farrell. He was filming the comedy ‘In Bruges’, and they were doing a couple of dangerous scenes on the canals. They chartered a couple of RIBs and me as an emergency diver. I gave him a tour and a drive on the RIB. I said there was a speed limit, but he didn’t care! He was also great fun to be with, and I’ve got a nice picture with him.

In powerboating, I’ve been competing since 2001. I started with fellow Belgian Nico Huybens, who runs the Outerlimits team – he’s actually my neighbour. But we had a crappy boat and didn’t have much success. I first met my current team-mate – Searex Racing boss Siegfried ‘Zigi’ Greve – in Portugal in 2002. It was like we had known each other for a long time. Last year, I was trying to get a few of the Powerboat P1 pilots to do a RIB event in Egypt – the Red Sea Rally. Only Zigi was interested, but we went over there and won everything. Zigi was looking for another pilot for the Evolution class in 2008, and that’s how we got together for this year.

We take our sport very seriously, but we make sure we have fun off the water as well. We have a very fast boat, but we always have some minor problems - small ones that have big implications. It’s like Murphy’s Law is on our boat. We’ve proved it’s one of the faster boats in the fleet, but we have to just be better at finishing. I’d like to work with Zigi again next year if I can – our communication and relationship, both in and out of the cockpit is very good – but it all depends on sponsorship.

I’m looking forward to the final race of the season in Portugal. The people there are so friendly and helpful. When I was there firefighting, they gave us cool drinks and shelter, and the local news did a story on me and my Belgian colleagues. I think we still have the potential to have our best result, and I think we can achieve a top three. We want to keep showing the world that the Searex boat is a good boat. That would be a great end to the season.