Rainer Bergmann wrote, researched, edited, conceptualised and commissioned stories, planned issues and their pages - everything an editor-in-chief does. And he interviewed what felt like every shipyard boss in the world, in Europe, the USA and Asia.
The birth of a motorboat magazine
But his favourite part was when the "oil dripped from the pages of the magazine". Bergmann was a man of technology. At the beginning of the 1980s, he made sure that BOOTE went from being a "magazine for leisure captains", which featured everything that could swim, from banana boats to snorkelling, to a one hundred percent motorboat magazine. The market called for it, more and more motorboats were bought, shipyards built series, German dealers imported.
Complete success
But motorboats had a certain grubby image at Delius Klasing Verlag; they were loud, brash and "oily". The publishing house with its sailing flagship "Yacht" was hesitant to reorient itself and was of the opinion that motorboats would be banned in the future anyway. The reorganisation of BOOTE from a maritime general shop to a technically competent motorboat magazine with high utility value was more or less "secretly" carried out by Bergmann. And it was a complete success. BOOTE was soon the largest motorboat magazine in Europe with a print run of up to 60,000 copies.
Rainer Bergmann sets standards
Bergmann was immediately concerned with setting standards. They were uncharted territory at the time and seem self-evident today. For motorboat tests, he and his team of experts - above all Erich Bogadke, Willi Pickel and Manfred Welkamer - developed fixed parameters that had to be ticked off for every test on the water: handling, equipment, noise, consumption. This also made comparative tests possible. Today, the boat data, measurement results and the final test verdict take up a whole page for an eight-metre day cruiser. Of course there was trouble with dealers and shipyards. But many also knocked on the door to have a boat type tested by BOOTE. A number of them also corrected negative points identified by BOOTE for the better.
No expense too high
Bergmann also had outboard motors of various sizes, trailers for different loads and accessories of all kinds professionally scrutinised on the basis of data for the first time. The protocols were kept for ten years. These were elaborate tests that were often carried out for days on end in Travemünde, but also in the Alps, when towing vehicles with trailers and boats were chased up pre-selected inclines. All new territory.
Costly tests
The costs for Bergman's test programmes with specially purchased measuring equipment were considerable, but could be justified by the growing circulation of BOOTE and very good advertising sales. Nothing was spared. The purchase of an editorial boat, on the other hand, was more difficult, but Bergmann was able to convince the publisher that it was not possible without one. A modest Rio 580 Cabin was purchased in 1984, which was replaced by a Nidelv 26 Classic in 1994 - it was primarily the cruising boat for the travel editors and was constantly on the move.
"Do it yourself" as a recipe for success
Another project that Bergmann initiated was "The Workshop": instructions for boat owners who wanted to beautify, renovate or technically upgrade their boat. A topic that is hardly relevant today. In this "do it yourself" series, he also renovated his own dream boat, a Chris-Craft 32 Seaskiff, which was made afloat according to all the rules of the art, documented in exemplary fashion for the readers of BOOTE. After a collision, she sank in the Elbe estuary and Bergmann experienced how boat owners can reach their limits.
Boom of the motorboat
Rainer Bergmann will be remembered as an adventurous, inquisitive person who went through life with a great sense of humour and who was a real bon vivant. How to install a holder for a cold drink in the cockpit was also a topic in the "workshop". And he was the one who predicted the boom in motorboats, which continues to this day, and pushed it through the BOOTE editorial programme in the face of much resistance. That was a while ago now. But he was the man of the first hour.
Marianne Nissen worked alongside Rainer Bergmann as co-editor-in-chief and was responsible for travel, reportage and news. "When it came to BOOTE, we always pulled in the same direction, no matter what else set us apart," she remembers. Their success proved them right.
