Hey Captain Sailing Tours Make Dates Unique

Men's Dating

Hey Captain Makes Dates Special With One-of-a-Kind Sailing Tours of Copenhagen

Chloë Hylkema

Written by: Chloë Hylkema

Chloë Hylkema

Chloë Hylkema has covered hundreds of people, services, and ideas in the dating and lifestyle sphere, all explored through the lens of making dating enjoyable. She has earned her bachelor's degree in English from Emory University and worked on animal rights advocacy issues and research in the past. Chloë is passionate about delivering readers the information and resources they need to forge conscious and self-realized connections. When she’s not writing, you can find her cooking a vegan feast or at the climbing gym.

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Edited by: Lillian Castro

Lillian Castro

Lillian Guevara-Castro brings more than 30 years of journalism experience to ensure DatingAdvice articles have been edited for overall clarity, accuracy, and reader engagement. She has worked at The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Gwinnett Daily News, and The Gainesville Sun covering lifestyle topics.

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The Short Version: The best dates combine conversation, connection, and experience. Hey Captain social sailing tours give couples exactly that. The company is Copenhagen’s #1-rated boat tour and creates intimate experiences for public and private tours. Unlike larger boat tour services, Hey Captain experiences are capped at 12 passengers and include a knowledgeable tour guide who gives insights that even locals will find interesting. Casper Junge, the co-owner and founder of Hey Captain, gave us the scoop on what a date with the company looks like and what couples can look forward to with a journey through the canals. 

My good friend used to live in a floating home on Lake Union in Seattle (yes, just like “Sleepless in Seattle”), and I took advantage of her insanely cool living arrangement by visiting her for a few days. She showed me her favorite spots around the city, we tried out all kinds of delicious cuisines, and spent a considerable amount of time staring in disbelief at the Gum Wall.

In our downtime, we would sit in her living room and watch all the happenings of Lake Union. The small room had floor-to-ceiling windows on each side and plush couches that made the descriptor of “cozy” feel like an understatement. 

Out of all the maritime travelers who passed the window, one demographic seemed to be having the most fun: the folks in the hot tub boats. If you’re unfamiliar, hot tub boats are exactly what they sound like — floating hot tubs that you can rent and navigate across Lake Union. 

Whether it’s a hot tub or just a standard boat, water excursions are a great way to see a place from a different perspective and have new experiences with the people you love. Hey Captain is a social sailing service in Copenhagen, and we talked to co-owner Casper Junge about what couples can expect from a date with the service.

Hey Captain takes a smaller-scale and more personalized approach to the traditional tourist attraction. “It’s grown a lot since we first started, but Hey Captain has stayed true to the original idea,” Casper said. “The core essence of our product is a personal experience, and that’s definitely stayed on.”

Casper’s Inspiration for Social Sailing

A few years after business school, Casper and his co-owner, Joel, were searching for direction for their next business venture. “It’s the classic – we had no good ideas, but we did have a boat,” Casper said. “We sailed around the canals in Copenhagen brainstorming about all these different ideas that we could potentially do.”

After inviting friends out on the boat and having a blast, Casper and Joel stumbled upon their big idea. “We have all our friends on the boat, and they really liked it – we could barely get rid of them,” Casper said. “So we decided to see if we could make a company that could compete with this classical, very big boat touristy vibe.”

hey captain founders
Casper and Joel were inspired to create Hey Captain by their passion for boating.

Casper said Copenhagen’s canals had plenty of excursion activities, so Hey Captain had to stand out. They started small with just one boat and quickly started booking spaces and gathering positive reviews. By keeping boat party sizes small and finding the best tour captains, Hey Captain garnered popularity and grew in size.

“During the summer, we have about 50 employees and 12 boats,” Casper said. Hey Captain gives passengers a unique perspective on the canals, which play an integral role in the city’s past and present. The areas along the harbor offer tourists and locals alike a special view of history and modern innovations.

Explore the Canals of Copenhagen

The concept of social sailing is at the heart of Hey Captain, but Casper said it took the service a second to find that foundation. “In the beginning, we didn’t really know what we were doing, to be frank,” he told us. “We were thinking about what made a good tour and what made a tour that didn’t work out.”

After some trial and error, Hey Captain found its stride with social sailing. The company offers several distinct sailing experiences, including private and public tours. Casper said he always encourages people to do public tours because mingling with others on the boat is central to the experience.

hey captain tours
Small boats and intimate parties make Hey Captain tours special.

“We found that the energy on the boat is quite different when people start talking to each other,” Casper said. “We made that the guiding star, and want that to happen on all of the tours. That’s why I always recommend public tours, because I think it’s a better tool.”

The Hidden Gems tour is a two-hour tour of Hey Captain’s favorite spots. These locations and landmarks are off the beaten path and offer passengers a different experience of the canals than what they would get with a larger tour company. The tour gives a good feel of what Copenhagen is about while showing off some lesser-known locations.

The one-hour Landmarks tour showcases Copenhagen’s iconic harborside spots. It departs from the Ofelia Plads next to the Royal Danish Playhouse and sails past the Royal Palace. The tour also goes past numerous historic buildings, the Circle Bridge, and the Royal Library.

Hey Captain Gets Everyone Involved

“It’s a social experience no matter what,” Casper said. Personally, I would go with Hidden Gems, mostly because those are spots I would take my boat on a day off. The Landmarks tour is more classic and covers the well-known spots.”

Casper said Hey Captain is used to hosting first dates. “We have people that bring their dates on our public tours, and I think it’s great because dates can have that level of awkwardness, but a public tour can make it a little more relaxed. It’s easier to find that automatic flow.”

hey captain tours
Hey Captain tours make for an unforgettable Copenhagen date.

First dates and dates early in a relationship benefit from activity and social interaction. A date that has a clearly defined activity, along with a start and end time, and has others present sets you up for a pleasant date, regardless of whether you choose to see the person again.

A date with Hey Captain is a great way to explore Copenhagen – and impress your date. And who knows – maybe you and your date will meet people on the boat you want to get to know better.

“Hey Captain is about people,” Casper said. “We went to school, studied business, and did math, but what made the difference was being good at connecting and bonding with people. It makes your life a lot better.”