GOLD COAST, QUEENSLAND – The Marine Stadium, a man-made bay in the Gold Coast Broadwater, has never seen anything like it; a total of 26 Rivieras rafted-up in a spectacular horseshoe shape over a weekend in November.
“It was the best weekend ever,” said Ken Wilson.
Ken and wife Sonya have been to a number of Riviera events, including a cruise with the R Marine Jones team to Lady Musgrave Island aboard their previous Riviera, a 33 Flybridge called R and R.
“We now have a 43 Open Flybridge called Sequel,” said Ken.
“In terms of atmosphere, rafting-up was a great idea.
“Everyone was hopping from one motor yacht to another throughout the evening.
“The music entertainment was fantastic. The two guitarists knew all the music we love. People were calling out song titles and the band would immediately pick it up and play.
“I think my suggestion early on got one of the best sing-along responses. I asked for House of the Rising Sun.
Sue and Paul Scott had owned their Riviera 40 Flybridge Forty Something for only eight weeks when they joined the raft-up and this was their first Riviera event.
“It was a marvelous way to get to know people,” said Sue. “A few weeks earlier, a guy named Jason helped us tie up at Sanctuary Cove. And there he was in the raft-up! We danced half the night aboard Jason and Jo’s Riviera.”
Jason and Jo Gosney, too, are relatively new to the Riviera family, having purchased their M370 Sports Cruiser MoJjo 12 months ago.
“We had only ever rafted up with two other boats before,” said Jason.
“The Riviera family is a fantastic community. We moved among many of the motor yachts and met some great people. We are looking forward to catching up with them again soon.”
He also enjoyed the music entertainment: “I love acoustic guitar.”
Kathy and Dale Cash were impressed with the careful planning by Randall Jones and the R Marine Jones team.
“We all knew exactly what time we needed to move in and join the raft-up,” said Kathy. “Each motor yacht was allocated a position. Our Riviera 47 Open Flybridge, Low Range, was the first to join the raft-up.
“We have been to many Riviera Family events and we certainly want to be involved with even more of them.”
The musicians, a duo named Reworked, were positioned on a Riviera 4000 Offshore placed in the centre of the horseshoe as their stage.
The duo, Andrew Hillman and Nick Muir, have a repertoire of about 700 songs.
“We can rattle off 50 or 60 with ease,” explained Andrew. “It was a great group of people. We played for about four hours and, once everyone was settled in, we joined them and moved from boat to boat. One big party!”
Sue Scott said the couple’s inspiration for owning a Riviera and joining Family events came from the Riviera Festival of Boating.
“We went to the Festival earlier this year and immediately agreed – we have to have one of these Rivieras!”
