The day shift starts at seven o'clock in the red brick building on Düsternbrooker Weg. The main station of the water police in Kiel, which is manned around the clock, looks directly out onto the glittering blue fjord, the windows are open. Carina Raschke is checking the latest reports, wearing blonde hair, blue trousers and a white shirt with epaulettes adorned with three thin gold stripes. The police chief's outfit. Raschke says: "A motorboat travelling at 20 knots has been spotted on the Kiel Canal. We'll look into it straight away."
Their colleagues Dirk Loof, senior police officer, and police master Frank Stüben are sitting down to a quick breakfast, rolls and a cup of coffee - and smiling at a bizarre report from Brunsbüttel police station. It is the undisputed number one topic today.
Naked man with green hair wanted
On the Elbe, a naked man with a green wig is said to have been water skiing behind a white sailing yacht and to have driven quite close to the sterns of other boats. The ladies and gentlemen of the water police have seen a lot in their time. But this sounds very abstruse.
The water police go out almost every day to investigate reported incidents and carry out routine checks. On the walls of the main station are operational plans and nautical charts: Kiel Canal, Kiel Harbour, Kiel Fjord, the Baltic Sea up to Kegnæs and Langeland. In front of the radio console are reports and notes, and next to them is a thick folder: the traffic bulletin document no. B 8350, entitled "BVKatBin-See", the catalogue of fines and warnings for inland waterways and seas.
The document is 233 pages long, teeming with paragraphs and contains almost every conceivable "offence" that can be recorded on German waters. It is the leaden work that is supposed to regulate traffic on the water. Anchoring in a prohibited place, dumping oil or standing at the tiller in the summer breeze with one or two too many beers - every offence is meticulously described here, along with the corresponding penalties. Warning fines. Notices. Fines. More drastic penalties if necessary.
The water police monitor the Baltic Sea up to the twelve nautical mile limit with their sea boats, and the canal, Kiel harbour and the fjord with their harbour boats. The tasks are many and varied. Security, investigation, prosecution of criminal offences. During shipping police operations, the officers check compliance with safety regulations in commercial shipping, the manning of ships, they check certificates, papers and requirements. They also prosecute environmental offences and, since 2003, have also been responsible for fisheries supervision.
They do not always use the boat. The car is often quicker to reach the locations on the water. If a theft is reported in the harbours or there is a riot somewhere on the jetty. However, if they do take the boat, the checks are also regularly carried out on pleasure craft, especially during the season.
Not many boats can keep up with the "Brunswik"
At 10 a.m., Loof and Stüben launch the "Brunswik", call sign DA 2342, a Finnish GRP boat of the Minor type, 11.40 metres long, with a crew of two and "sufficiently motorised", as Loof calls it. The two engines produce well over 300 hp. There are probably not many vehicles on the fjord that can keep up with this.
It's a creamy day, bathing weather. The "Brunswik" chugs south for the time being. Stüben sits at the helm, various instruments in front of him. Radar, marine radio, ship identification system, Navtex. The two officers carry Sig Sauer P6 pistols. "Fortunately, I've only had to use mine for practice shooting so far," says Loof.
The "Brunswik" passes two huge cruise ships, the crew of the steamer "Bussard" and the captains of the ferries wave to the patrol. They know each other on the water. The first incident at 11.15 am. A small traditional sailing boat is sailing under sail and engine, but has not set the black cone, tip down, as required by the collision prevention regulations.
A short instruction, that's the end of the matter
There are three young people on the boat. As the "Brunswik" approaches, they look a little puzzled. Loof stands at the bow railing of the police boat and sees that one of the sailors on board is already in the process of pulling out the cone. A short briefing follows, Loof wishes them a good Sunday and that's that.
"We don't want to be more papal than the Pope," says Loof. "We often just point out a mistake and don't issue a warning straight away. But they should already know that different rules of right of way apply to a sailing yacht under engine power and that the cone must be set." Loof stands at the stern, looks out over the fjord and adjusts his black sunglasses. At 11.30 a.m., the boat passes the boundary between the harbour and the outer fjord.
The police often have to take care of little things. Fishing driftwood out of the water, for example, or calling young people to order when they once again jump from the jetties into the wake of the departing ferries in warm weather. Then a Dehler 35 comes into view, bobbing on the fjord without its sails set. The skipper is standing in the cockpit in his swimming trunks and fishing. As soon as the police boat is in close proximity, he calls out: "Well, what do you want to see?" Loof doesn't take "you" and "you guys" lightly, it's the tone at sea. He has his fishing and pleasure boat licence handed to him. Everything is fine, a few nice words are exchanged about cod, then we move on.
Checks are only carried out in the event of anomalies
Some sailors are annoyed by the waterway police and complain about the authorities' arbitrary inspections. Like an elderly skipper who had to undergo an all-round inspection in the Bay of Lübeck; the officers, he says, even came on board and measured the angle of the flagpole. There are indeed such contemporaries in uniform who seem to feel called upon to harass pleasure boat skippers by every trick in the book. In the recent past, several such incidents bordering on the absurd have been publicised on the Flensburg Fjord and the Schlei - one overzealous law enforcement officer, himself a sailor, is even said to have persecuted his own club mates one after the other for trivial matters.
But such idiosyncratic interpretations of the job are rare exceptions. "As a rule, we only stop sailors in the event of anomalies," says Loof. Many skippers, they say in the marinas, have never been checked at all. "We don't actually have much stress with pleasure craft," says the police chief. "We tend to try to maintain a decent relationship at sea."
Nevertheless, sailors must expect to be checked at any time. Even if there is no obvious reason.
Deficits in right of way rules
For minor offences, the officers usually only demand a warning fine, which settles the matter. In Kiel's area of responsibility, this usually involves three offences. For speeding of up to three kilometres per hour, recreational boaters have to pay 20 euros, 15 euros for staying in the lock access area for no reason and 25 euros for sailing in the restricted area off Friedrichsort.
According to Loof, it is also noticeable that sailors relatively often violate the right-of-way rule in the fairway and show deficits in terms of right-of-way rules. Loof: "Many sailors don't realise that they don't have right of way over motorboats if they follow the course of the fairway." Some skippers also run far too close to the bow of freighters and commercial vessels, which is quite unpleasant for the bridge crews on large ships because they have a considerable blind spot in front of the stem. "If sailors paid more attention to this and got out of the way early enough, we could save ourselves a lot of calls from angry pilots and captains."
The generally relaxed atmosphere only suffers when skippers who disagree with verbal instructions or warnings start to rant or make stupid remarks. If they adopt such a tone or become flippant, even the most well-meaning water police officers are no longer on good terms. They then file a report and impose a fine that can be up to ten times higher than the warning fine.
Police officers should learn to understand sailors
On the other hand, in order to be able to better empathise with the sailors, the officers have to complete the seamanship course II, which is equivalent to the recreational coaster licence course. For example, the officers are supposed to recognise when a yacht is forced to cross on the wrong side of the fairway due to external circumstances. This makes perfect sense for someone like Loof. He used to be a watch officer on a navy speedboat. And in comparison, yachts are fragile toy ships.
Further out on the outer fjord, Police Master Stüben now steps on the gas and slowly puts the lever on the table. The boat speeds away, pushing a huge stern swell into the water. Stüben holds the wheel with both hands and pulls the boat into a wide turn.
Then he throttles back the engines. As if to confirm Loof's words, a Grand Soleil 40 sails where it shouldn't: coming from the sea on the port side of the fairway. The skipper stands at attention as the "Brunswik" approaches. The officers have a telescopic landing net on board to hand over the boat's papers and licences, and if the waves are too high, the yacht is ordered to a harbour for inspection. This time, however, there is again only a verbal instruction from rail to rail. Loof stands with his legs apart at the bow, the skipper turns away after the reprimand.
"It's a matter of judgement for the officer when we impose a warning or a fine," says Loof. "Those who are not conspicuous and show understanding often only get away with such a warning." After all, the water is a kind of last refuge. Of course, rules must apply, but you don't want to destroy the atmosphere at sea.
No pardon on the subject of alcohol
However, there is no pardon when it comes to alcohol. Like for the skipper who was travelling in the wrong direction in a 16-metre yacht in the traffic separation zone, had problems mooring in Strande and was measured to have a blood alcohol level of 2.67 per mille. "He lost his pleasure craft licence for two years," police chief Raschke had said that morning.
The police boat always has a breathalyser on board. Anyone who is suspected of being drunk must blow their nose, and pleasure craft drivers are not allowed to have more than 0.5 per mille. The same rules apply as in road traffic.
Driving under the influence of alcohol without any signs of impairment, where 0.5 to 1.1 per mille is detected, is considered an administrative offence. A report is made to the Waterways and Shipping Directorate (WSD), which then decides how to proceed. Anyone with a blood alcohol level of more than 1.1 per mille will be prosecuted by the public prosecutor's office.
In the event of a repeat offence or suspicion of habitual drinking, the public prosecutor's office can order a medical-psychological examination, commonly known as an "idiot test". Anyone who fails this test is deemed unfit to drive any kind of motor vehicle and will lose their driving licence.
Routine checks in the lock
The police boat moors at the canal lock in Kiel-Holtenau shortly before two o'clock. Routine checks are often carried out here - but almost always without the pleasure craft being noticed. Skippers have to show their licences in the chamber. Frequency allocation certificates and radio licences are also checked if there is appropriate equipment on board. The police are also interested in whether there are prohibited halon extinguishers on board. If alcohol is suspected, the usual: blow.
Loof and Stüben climb down the metal rungs to the floating docks, nine sailing boats have entered the lock and are just mooring. Some of the sailors look sceptical, the wind of authority suddenly blows through the chamber. Loof and Stüben split up. An older skipper flatters from his cockpit: "You don't even have a licence like mine, it's a few years older than yours." Loof takes it in his stride and jokes back: "It doesn't take much." Of course, he still wants to see the licence.
On the next yacht, a woman gets upset. She is a lawyer and says that the officials should leave the holidaymakers alone and instead take care of the cryptic language and confusing abbreviations in the shipping regulations. Nobody can interpret some of the prohibitions and commands. Loof and Stüben know all about that. They continue on their way calmly, offering help here and there with mooring.
The naked wakeboarder also makes an appearance
Loof stops a little longer at the last boat, his gaze sharpens and wanders attentively over the approximately ten metre long GRP yacht, three young men on board, just 18, 19 years old, shorts, free torsos, sinewy. On deck is a wakeboard, which is normally towed by motorboats. One of the boys is wearing flesh-coloured surf shorts and a large green cap on his head, his visor turned backwards.
It dawns on Loof: the naked water skier with the green wig! The three of them confess immediately. They had actually let themselves be towed off the yacht on the wide wakeboard, standing knee-deep in the gurgling water because of the low speed. Loof smiles and takes their personal details for the files, for the sake of order.
And with that, his working day comes to an end. Despite naked wakeboarders with green hair: no special incidents.
This article first appeared in YACHT 8/2010 and has been slightly abridged
