Nowadays, anyone in the market for a boat has such an endless array of choices that it makes deciding on just one a rather tall order. Of course the best route in narrowing your yacht selection is to tour a large boat show. Do all the rounds. You’ll not only see most of the products available today but you’ll also have a chance to discover the brand and the people that work for it. Most importantly you’ll be able to test a theory of mine, that Riva is just a step ahead.
Honestly, I embellish not. The salespeople are approachable, knowledgeable and delightfully charming. Okay the Italian marque is not alone there. Its catalogue is a bound hardback that is so well put together it leaves you in no doubt as to the lengths they went in order to create it. Again it’s not totally unique and I apologise for my publisher’s eye. Back to the issue at hand. The service personnel are knowledgeable, supportive and comprehensible. Now we’re getting somewhere. But traverse the gangplank and step aboard any Riva yacht and you’re immediately overwhelmed by the difference. These guys aren’t in the business of yachts at all, they’re artists selling a physical manifestation of your most sybaritic dreams. The competitors may show some razzle-dazzle but really inspect the details, check the engineering, design and especially the finishing and make an honest comparison. You’ll see for yourself that stepping aboard a Riva is like entering a Rolls-Royce after a lifetime of Yugos.
I was privileged enough to attend the world debut of the latest Riva, the 86’ Domino, at the International Cannes Boat Show in early September and there’s no sub-30-metre boat that I’d rather own. Some products are developed with the precise aim of carrying out a function. Others go far beyond this. Riva’s new 86’ Domino is one such product. When I was younger I used to actually toy with the idea of becoming a boat designer and many of the vessels I penned followed the dimensions and style of the Domino - meaning an obscenely large open deck boat. It’s only within the last few years that manufacturers have gathered the audacity to create such crafts as this, and this particular example manages to achieve a perfect balance of dimensions – it’s truly a magnificent boat.
I am not alone in this sentiment. The clean, winning lines of the Domino immediately impress anyone who lays their eyes on her for the first time. It’s a well-balanced design through which personality and aggressiveness transpire. That heady mix is made all the more apparent by the new but slightly brash Metallic Ice colour that covers the hull as well as the deckhouse. It certainly creates a spectacular and high-impact effect but I’d dare say that in a more austere colour the Domino might look even better. Personal taste, what can I say.
The Domino’s owners and guests will enjoy the abundant space onboard in addition to the number of different areas for socialising, a characteristic that makes this yacht ideal for both long cruises and daily life on board. As you tour the external areas, you’ll find three separate tanning sections. The first is at the rear on the main deck above the tender garage. The second is a large sundeck at the bow that features a dinette with a table for six. And the third area is the sundeck that’s so perfectly integrated into the upper part of the deckhouse that it cannot be spotted from outside. It’s not a huge area but there’s ample room for a reclining-back sunpad for three. In all honesty however this ‘sundeck’ was more likely created to add a second steering position for tight mooring manoeuvres but it does serve both purposes so what the hell.
The main entrance to the interior is through the rear into the closed, air-conditioned upper salon. Something I really admired here was the way in which Riva has designed the rear salon doors. They split, slide and swing meaning you don’t have that feeling of an over abundance of glass-reinforced plastic that so many other boats over use. Rather by allowing the doors to fully swing open this manufacturer has created an open loft space that links the outside with the interior seamlessly. That loft-space design brief has been continued between the dining room and the helm station too as the two areas are merely split by a large LCD that disguises itself as a mirror. All of these open elements guarantee the passage of natural light both through the large side windows and the windscreen, which makes for a clear and breezy living area.
You cannot mention the interior of this boat without waxing lyrically over the furnishing elements. There’s just no other boat manufacturer out there that can come close to the designers at Riva. I know many of you readers may be a little surprised at my enthusiasm but take the chest of drawers located in the living room for example. They were designed in-house yet they’d look just at home in a Bottega Veneta boutique. The table looks Sawaya & Moroni-esque and the chairs could have been designed by the master, Mies van der Rohe himself. The choice to match the special shades of elm and grey durmast with natural-coloured leather inserts and grey lacquering makes for a particularly attractive and welcoming environment that further emphasises the spaciousness.
Moving further forward you find the helm of the boat, which has a stairway going down either side of it. On the left hand side is the passageway to the mezzanine level where you’ll find the fully equipped galley. The cabins for the four crewmembers are not found here; rather they’re accessed from the stern cockpit, which guarantees total privacy for owners and their guests. The staircase on the right of the helmstation is the way to the guest quarters. There are four cabins, two of which are standard king size beds and the other two are twins. The portside twin cabin actually has a special Riva sliding-tracks feature that allows you to easily push the beds together to make another king should you prefer.
The special design of the large window in correspondence with the full beam master cabin located amidships follows the surfaces of the hull, integrating perfectly and ensuring as much light as possible in this environment. Equipped with an en-suite head and walk-in wardrobe, the master cabin also has a private living-room area and vanity. In fact every cabin has its own en-suite head including the VIP king-bedded at the bow as well as the two ten-cabins between the master bedroom and the VIP one.
All in all everything has been well thought out and the only fault I could find with this boat was the easily changeable exterior colour. Of course there is the issue of price and Riva is quite well known for being more expensive than its competitors but when you factor in all that you get in return: from the outstanding design touches, the excellent lighting, the powerful MTU engines and all the rest, the Domino does not work out as expensively as you may have initially thought. As the title of my piece quite clearly states if you can afford it, get one, if you cannot, then get saving.
What Riva 86’ Domino
Specs 8 guests, 4 crew, 4870hp, 38 knots top speed, 335nm range
Price €5,900,000 (8,825,000 USD)
Why This boat doesn’t just do one thing well, it does it all: fast, stylish, spacious, and exclusive it’s the very finest vehicle to be created this year.
www.rivaboats.com
