Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in Volume 7 of B.H. Magazine, order your copy now.
Is $7.5 million a lot to pay for a beautifully fitted, three-bedroom, three-bathroom home that comes with the world's largest swimming pool? Not if it sits right on Sydney Harbour, obviously.
Throw in the fact that it can, at your pleasure, be picked up and moved wholesale to the Mediterranean, Monaco, the Whitsundays, or the Bahamas, and it starts to sound like a veritable bargain.
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If you're the sort of person who goes shopping for a boat like Riviera's new 72-foot luxury cruiser – the 72 Sports Motor Yacht Series II – you'd snort derisively at the idea that $7.5 million is a lot to pay for anything. It's precisely what Ferrari charges for its new F80 supercar, for what it's worth. And in terms of living aboard a superyacht, I can report that the lucky fellow buying the one I was allowed to sea-test at the Gold Coast recently was about to spend the next eight months on board, embarking on various gloriously named adventures.
Then again, you might want to pay considerably more. One customer added an extra $1 million to the price of their 72 simply by being particular about the interior fit-out.
A boat – even one as majestically spacious and commanding as this Riviera – is not a home. But after spending a day tracing how a vessel like this comes into being, from design through to sea trials and handover to a happy customer, and touring the largest shipbuilding factory of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere (16.8 hectares of it), I can honestly say I'm surprised this floating palace doesn't cost more.
For a start, it is not only designed but entirely built in Australia by a workforce of 940 people, all on proper wages.
Some 13 years ago, when current owner Rodney Longhurst – brother of former racing driver and Bathurst winner Tony – bought the business, it was producing mass-market boats: glossy but not classy, the kind of vessels you’d expect to find bobbing along the Gold Coast.
Longhurst was advised he could lift profits and volume by offshoring much of the work to Asia, as other boat builders do, and cutting labour costs significantly. But as a former fitter and joiner, and someone who values people born to work with their hands, he chose a different course.
"I wanted to keep these jobs and skills in Australia," explains Longhurst. "Over the past 13 years, our master craftspeople and our Academy of Excellence training team have mentored the next generation of master boat builders.”
"Our drive has been to create the best possible motor yachts we can by continually raising the quality. Our clients can purchase whatever they desire, however they choose to own a Riviera yacht, and they are very proud to tell their friends about the experience.”
"Our goal is to help create amazing life moments for our owners, their families and friends – boating moments they'll look back on as being among the top 10 experiences of their lives.”
In the years since Longhurst took over, the quality, fit, finish, and design of Riviera's boats have risen from something at the level of Volkswagen – Audi at best – to swimming in the same waters as Bentley or Rolls-Royce. And it’s wise, because their clientele are very much the same.
Then there's the staggering complexity and the vast man-hours that go into every one of the 120 luxury boats, across various sizes and price points, that leave the Riviera factory each year. The wiring, custom cabinetry, seamless stainless-steel welding, and computational wizardry involved are almost beyond comprehension.
After exploring a process startlingly more complex than anything I've witnessed at Ferrari or Rolls-Royce, we make our way onto the finished product, which looms overhead like a particularly attractive floating mansion.
The main cabin feels like the lobby of a fine hotel, but with a plushness to everything you touch and sit on. Polished timber gleams, stainless steel shines, and each new stateroom or living area prompts a small, involuntary "wow".
It takes some time just to walk the length of a vessel this vast. Eventually, I reach the bridge, take the controls, and am encouraged to hit both throttles and accelerate hard.
The surge that follows – seamless, surprisingly quiet, genuinely staggering – is something else entirely. The twin V12 MAN engines haul the nose clear of the water as the speedo climbs from five to 25 knots in what feels like moments. It's grand and effortless, truly Rolls-Royce in character, and the electric steering is equally direct and light.
There's no denying I feel slightly out of my depth at the helm. But Riviera takes time to properly train new owners – up to three days – before they're let loose on open water.
Modern technology also means that, despite boats getting ever larger, they're also becoming easier to drive. Feeling stressed about berthing this 72-footer? Hit a button, and the boat will hold itself stationary until you're ready to proceed.
Clever, beautifully crafted, and enormously powerful. Honestly, if I had a spare $7.5 million in my pocket, I'd have slapped it down on a Riviera 72 Sports Motor Yacht Series II without a moment's hesitation.