The people of Hamburg are creative when it comes to offering attractions to the many millions of tourists a year:Adventurous can stand-up paddle on the Alster, race through the city on motorised miniature soapboxes without shame, hold dialogues in the dark or glide in and through the Elbe on a sightseeing amphibious bus.
If these experiences have not yetBlood freezes in the veins can enjoy the benefits of an annual programme for eight years.breathtaking speedboat ride in a rubber dinghy.
Even the first contact puts you in a good mood: at their base at the city sports boat harbour, the RIB Pirates subtle South Sea feeling. A rustic wooden hut protected by weatherproof tarpaulins, a bar with palm trees, a stately barbecue and plenty of tables invite you to sit down and marvel.
In addition to the view of the Elbphilharmonie, it is above all thethree pitch-black RIBs with skull and crossbones brandingthat make an impression on tourists and locals alike. Behind this clever business idea are Frank Procopius and Caroline Schmidt, two genuine adventurers who are not only a couple in their private lives, but also dedicated to theCaught RIB fever are.
They wanted theExtreme speed feelingwhich otherwise onlyrescue workers, the police, combat divers or Greenpeace activists to make it accessible to everyone.
The road to obtaining a licence to operate commercial speedboats in the harbour area was long and rocky. In order to realise their dream of sightseeing with guaranteed thrills, the two had to prove their staying power. The responsible authoritieshad to be convinced of the safety and reliability of the companybe convinced.
The only supporter was theCity Sporthafen with its management boardwho were enthusiastic about the idea and who still rent the station with the berths to the RIB Pirates today. Today, the RIB Pirates are the only company authorised to sail regularly in the Port of Hamburg.
The makers
Born in Hamburg, Frank Procopius has always had "shaky hobbies", he admits. He was a parachutist, jet ski, dragster and Harley driver as well as an aerobatic pilot.
"Today I don't need to work anymore, because I've turned my hobby into a profession," he says and adds: "I had a really great childhood, mostly hanging out with my father and his two brothers - between cars, petrol stations and garages.
I've had petrol in my blood from an early age. That works in my favour with the pirates, I know a lot about engines, and as a boat owner you need that too. We maintain our boats meticulously, because they are under a lot of strain. We sail a RIB for up to 500 hours a year."
Although his father already went to sea, Frank Procopius himself only took up water sports late in life. He obtained his motorboat licence in 2004 at the age of 41 "because I wanted to do seaplanes". He really caught fire during his first RIB rally, which he took part in on the Red Sea in Egypt in 2007.
"Back then, we travelled 500 nautical miles in a week with the RIB through the Dutch Antilles. Afterwards, we had to prove ourselves in many other sporting disciplines. The whole thing was televised in Holland. During that time, I fell in love with this type of boat. RIBs are direct, manoeuvrable, fast and incredibly robust: pure workhorses."
"I met Caro in Hamburg in 2008, she accompanied our team to the ABC Islands," says Frank about his girlfriend and current business partner Caroline Schmidt, who is also crazy about motorsport. "That's where the idea of offering RIB boating in Hamburg harbour was born. "She grew up on the Mecklenburg Lake District and has therefore had an affinity for water from an early age! Frank and Caro bought their first boat in 2009.
Back then they were naïve, as Frank says today, because the two founders did not realise at the time what a bureaucratic odyssey they would be embarking on. Initially, they offered tours on the North Sea and Baltic Sea, but their dream was the port of Hamburg.
At that time, it was still unthinkable to obtain authorisation for this. "No wonder the Hamburg authorities were critical of the company. The seaplane that used to fly here crashed twice. Once there were five fatalities, once two.
And then you arrive with something that has never happened here before. Our RIBs are many times faster than launches. Of course they weren't cheering. We had to slowly earn their trust."
Over the years, the two company founders were able to prove that they were serious about their endeavour and gradually build up trust. Initially, they were only allowed to drive through the harbour at a crawling pace, which, according to Caro, felt "like driving a Porsche in a play street".
Two principles therefore apply to the RIB Pirates team today: Safety first - and: no stress with the authorities. Frank Procopius keeps a very close eye on his speed indicator when he takes his boat out of the harbour. Their expert handling of the boats and their cautious driving style have paid off: "The fact that we are allowed to drive our RIBs here is sacred to me. I would never risk it."
Frank smilingly calls the nautical control centre, which uses state-of-the-art technology to monitor the movements and speeds of the ships in the harbour, "race control" and respects its rules to the letter. In all these years, neither he nor his crew have ever been ticketed.
The pirates have an excellent relationship with the harbour management, the water police and the barge captains. When they cross paths, they wave cheerfully to each other. Even though pirates are originally the ruffians of the seas, Frank and his crew attach great importance to politeness and diplomacy in the real world. In the water and on land.
For the RIB pirates, who want and have to fulfil the highest standards for people and equipment, safety comes first. According to chief pirate Frank, this starts with the impeccable condition of the boats and extends to the qualification of the drivers. You have to learn how to push a RIB with its 300 hp to its limits. Safe handling of the inflatable boats must be guaranteed by sound training.
All drivers have been specially trained since the RIB Pirates were founded. "Even if you have a big licence or drive a tugboat, you can't necessarily drive an inflatable boat," explains Frank.
All pirates are therefore either instructors with a government agency, full-time captains with an Unlimited licence and sail on seagoing vessels in the port of Hamburg, or have a military shipping background. According to Frank Procopius, they therefore meet the highest security standards possible in Germany.
Small but mighty: the black fleet of pirates
The pirate fleet currently consists of three rigid inflatable boats, or RIBs for short. Two Italian examples of the "Capelli" brand and a British one from "Ribcraft".
When the boss talks about his boats, he goes into raptures: "The RIBs are designed for tough offshore use and are used by the Navy S.E.A.L.s and Sea Shepherd, among others, in their operations on the open sea.
And for good reason: this type of boat is indestructible and goes through the waves like a warm knife through butter." The manoeuvrable speedboats weigh between 1.9 and 2.5 tonnes, are almost 8 metres long and are equipped with the latest environmentally friendly Yamaha engines with up to 300 hp.
This allows the boats to reach speeds of up to 90 km/h when loaded. It is normal for Frank to accelerate to over 50 knots outside the city limits. Full throttle towards the Altes Land.
If you book a trip with the pirates, you can look forward to a well thought-out choreography: from the Elbphilharmonie concert hall, the cruise starts at a leisurely pace towards Landungsbrücken. Once the boats have passed the fish market and the Hamburg Cruise Centre Altona, they double their speed and speed past Hamburg's most beautiful beach with the popular "Strandperle" café.
From Teufelsbrück, the pace picks up again and the route continues along the banks of the Elbe in Blankenes with its famous staircase district. Most landlubbers' hair is already standing on end, but this is just the beginning.
At the harbour border behind buoy 125 from the Wedel power station, the boats are stopped and the guests are made aware of the high-speed part by the skipper. Only then do they really get going: at top speed in the direction of Altes Land. Every wave is a pleasure as the landscape races past and the boat takes bends that will have even experienced water sports enthusiasts clinging to the handholds.
After the boats and pilots have shown what they can do, the journey continues on the south side of the Elbe back towards Hamburg, passing other sights such as the Airbus factory, the container gantry cranes, Blohm + Voss Dock and the musical "The Lion King".
Giant containers from all over the world seem close enough to touch. Now the boat is travelling at a speed at which the boatmen can answer questions. In total, a tour covers around 50 kilometres. The likelihood of a well-combed hairstyle surviving the tour unscathed is less than slim.
Slippery weather? No problem!
You might think that Hamburg, with its average of 130 rainy days a year and constant wind, is not the ideal location for high-speed boat trips, but the opposite is true. Those interested should not be afraid of Hamburg's well-known "bad weather":
According to Frank, every weather has its own quality. "It's precisely when the weather is edgy that RIB sailing is fun," says Frank. "We sometimes have the best tours in February, when it's freezing cold and stormy. That's when our customers have close contact with the elements and usually come off the boat with a huge grin on their faces."
The guests do not need to prepare for the tour: "We equip our passengers with very good, extremely weatherproof jackets and trousers from our founding partner Helly Hansen. The fact that every passenger wears an automatically triggered lifejacket is just as standard as the safety briefing before every trip."
The only time the pirates don't set sail is when the Elbe freezes over, but fortunately that hasn't happened in recent years. Another problem can be the wind: For safety reasons, the pirates no longer take passengers on their voyages when the wind force is at least seven.
The strain on the passengers could be too great. Frank prefers to take his crew out on the Elbe to practise handling the boats in adverse conditions. He does this even when wind forces of over ten are forecast.
A thrill that needs to be learnt
"Our trips present the boat captains with a challenging task: they have to go so fast that it's really fun, but so safely that the guests are not overly burdened. The large seagoing vessels, launches and ferries mean that we always have different wave patterns on the Elbe.
This is where the lightweight speedboat shows what it can do." The perfect ride through the wave troughs has its pitfalls and requires skill: "If I just let off the throttle and jump over the wave, it can be uncomfortable for the passengers, so we reduce the speed briefly at the top of the wave and then really step on the gas again: a technique that maximises riding pleasure and still guarantees safety.
As a driver, you need the right feeling for that." "Swells and rough weather don't bother the inflatable boats," enthuses Frank, "This type of boat is used to grief and doesn't get rattled easily. According to the manufacturer, our RIBs can withstand ten wind forces.
They don't need any chichi or a teak deck to make men's hearts beat faster. And of course our pirate black looks really nasty. But they are so robust - it's impossible to lay one of these on its side in Hamburg harbour."
The speedboats' manoeuvrability also helps others: Five to ten times a year, Frank and his crew rescue people from emergency situations. The entrepreneur doesn't like to talk about it, he just does it. Damaged sailors, capsized boats, sports boats with engine damage - when something happens on the Elbe, the pirates are often on the scene quickly thanks to their manoeuvrable speedboats.
"I can tell from the slightly panicked look on people's faces when their boats are in the fairway that I have to help. I've towed so many sailing and motorised boats. Just the other day, I towed a power boat that had broken down, I asked him briefly about the hull speed of his boat and then brought him back to his harbour directly into his box."
Business is flourishing
Frank and Caro can't complain about a lack of customers, the adrenaline business is flourishing - the Hanseatic city is a constant tourist magnet. At weekends, the pirates mostly take single bookings and couples, while during the week it is mainly groups.
Driving takes place between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. every two hours. The successful duo are focussing on expansion. The business will soon be growing, Frank reveals, "but you don't talk about unlaid eggs. I'll just say this much: it's going to be awesome."
This report comes from BOOTE issue 11/2017.
