It’s unusual for us to work inland, but we had the pleasure of spending a couple of days at Riva’s historical HQ at Sarnico on Lake Iseo in Italy for delivery and acceptance trials of a new build Riva on behalf of a client. The shipyard has such an amazing history, as well as being a very busy production and delivery facility for smaller yachts in the Riva line up. The photo is of Carlo Riva’s old office, or “the bridge” as they call it….you can see why. Whilst the buildings themselves are very reminiscent of a bygone age, the facilities and the yachts that they produce are far from it, although the attention to detail and spot on styling remain.
With a little time to spare before I had to fly home, I asked to be given an opportunity to look around the private collection of classic Rivas dating back from the 1950s: the Aquarama, the Florida, the Tritone and my favourite, the Ariston, with its beautiful stern. From a survey perspective, these boats are very specialist indeed: with their cold moulded hulls and inboard petrol engines they present more than a few potential pitfalls, but when beautifully restored or kept carefully from new, these beautiful craft are a sight to behold. There was a time that classic superyachts would carry one or more Rivas or Hackercraft as their tenders, and indeed we’ve occasionally come across them during our pre purchase surveys, but alas these days practical considerations tend to take priority and we see fewer of them, although we’re always happier when the need for stowing petrol powered tenders and watertoys onboard is kept to a minimum, as safe storage of additional fuel to keep them supplied is often a challenge.
I expect to be back at Riva before long and when I return, I’m planning to take a closer look at a Riva Ariston……I may have caught the Riva bug!