Riviera took pride of place at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show with the Americas Premiere of its flagship 6800 Sport Yacht Platinum Edition and hosting the inaugural Americas owners Festival of Boating.
With 68 Riviera and Belize luxury motor yachts rafting together in a horse-shoe shape on a perfect summer day on the water in Perth, an exceptional afternoon of fun and celebration was assured.
The team at R Marine Perth led by Dealer Principal Ryan Lloyd, worked hard for months to ensure everyone on every motor yacht had the time of their lives.
David and Dori D’Orazio took delivery of their new Riviera 4600 Sport Yacht Platinum Edition, Adoracion, in April and were excited to bring friends to the event for the first time on their own yacht.
“We have been to the Perth Riviera raft-ups before but always as guests of friends,” said David. “This year was fantastic to be here as hosts. We know quite a few people in the Riviera family now, so catching up was fun. Everyone’s interested in boats of course, so there is lots of boat talk.”
“We brought six friends with us. Mixing with people and just walking across the swim platforms from boat to boat and chatting was so much fun.”
Dori D’Orazio was equally excited.
“The yacht’s name is, in fact, my full name! Dori for short,” she explained.
“My favourite aspect of our Sport Yacht is the single-level indoor-outdoor environment. It means that we are all free to move from saloon to cockpit to swim platform so easily.
Click the play button to enjoy the 2024 R Marine Perth Raft-up highlights.
Mixing with people and just walking across the swim platforms from boat to boat and chatting was a highlight.
“The entire team at R Marine Perth did such an incredible job to make it a perfect day,” she said.
“With eight people on board, we wanted to ensure our guests were happy and safe and I could spend all the time with them, not in the galley and not having David tied to the barbecue on the aft deck. So, we organised seafood and more seafood. Everyone contributed a plate.
“The music this year was extraordinary. We heard it perfectly coming from the band boat.”
David said the music began before the band boat arrived to be centre stage.
“There were solo singers on board Rivieras from about 10.30,” he said. “The place was rocking by the time the band turned up.”
Ryan explained the music.
“We spent a great deal of time with specialist sound engineers before the event working out how sound carried across water and taking wind into account. We wanted to make sure the sound carried equally to every motor yacht. And it worked perfectly. The band were playing as they arrived.”
Rafting-up was made easy by Ryan and the crew from R Marine Perth.
Bronwyn Bergin was the only female skipper in the raft-up. She and husband Brian have owned Yemaya, a Riviera 505 SUV, for 12 months.
“The name means ‘Mother of Mermaids’,” Bronwyn said. “We love the multiple entertaining spaces on board. We had eight people on board for the day and there was plenty of room for everyone. There’s the cockpit, the alfresco dining area and inside in the saloon. We have used the fore-deck lounge space occasionally but with a canopy it is mainly a domain for kids.”
She said the event was the first time she had rafted up.
“Ryan was so encouraging and talked us through the manoeuvres to bring Yemaya into the raft-up perfectly.”
Bronwyn loved the music.
“Our friends on board knew every song,” she said. “The R Marine team had organised it so we could text requests to the band. The people on the yacht next to us did too and the band would call out the yacht’s name before playing the request.”
Steve Marley took delivery of his new Riviera 5400 Sport Yacht Platinum Edition the day before the event.
“This was our tenth Riviera raft-up,” he said. “I arranged for my best mate, who also has a Riviera 5400, to be rafted on our starboard side. I have owned a few Rivieras and another friend who now owns my second Riviera was rafted on our port side.
“Between the three boats, we had about 50 people on board. It was a fabulous party. I spent most of the day in the water.”
Ryan said that planning for the event began six months ago.
“Our first job is to open registrations. Once we know how many motor yachts will be in the raft-up, we create the horse-shoe plan with every yacht in a specific place, taking into account their preferences. Over the months we develop five or six plans and requirements as numbers change.
“We had a team of 12 at the raft-up, helping people to come into the circle. The team at Riviera provided us with special white shirts for the day so we really stood out and our guests knew who to go to if they needed assistance.”
Work on helping owners to learn about and enjoy their new yachts didn’t end for the R Marine team after the event.
Ryan admitted there was a massive “adrenaline dump” as they headed home after the raft-up. But six days later he was on board with another new owner, driving the motor yacht south to Mandurah to show him the sophisticated systems on board.
And planning for the 2025 raft-up will begin soon enough.
2024 R Marine Perth social gallery
To enjoy the social gallery, click on the first image on the top left-hand corner to enlarge the preview and then click the arrow on the centre of the right side to advance through the full gallery.
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