|
I was hot to drive the Rivarama, of course, despite the intense cold in Northern Italy around Christmastime; the weatherman was calling for snow in Sarnico, the little village on Lake Iseo where Riva’s been building boats for the past 161 years. So once I’d finished ogling our test boat’s interior, I went topside and hit the ignition switches. Vroom, vroom went our twin 700-hp MAN diesels, thundering to life in the cavernous interior of "the Riva garage."
Garage? The test boat was floating in a giant, concrete-sided lagoon within an equally giant lakeside building, an in-the-water facility for tweaking new launches. Appropriately, it was located directly below Riva’s main office, a wonderful place originally built to resemble the bridge of a ship. I’d checked it out the day before, as carpenters and electricians hired by Riva’s owner, the Ferretti Group, carefully worked to restore and modernize it.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
|
The garage door went up at the flip of a switch, admitting a frigid blast from the lake and a vision of the snow-capped peaks of the Alps. Test driver Alex De Ponte eased the Rivarama through the slot in the concrete&mdash'I wasn’t taking any chances threading the needle myself, not with somebody else’s million-dollar boat. Swapping places with Alex once we were outside, I leaned on the ZF/Mathers electronic sticks and started beelining south, the only boat on the lake.
It was a magnificent experience. The Rivarama had a stately feel, as much due to a considerable displacement as to a rich complement of standards. At 2000 rpm, I shifted the dual-speed transmissions into high gear, hunkered down behind the sleek windshield, gulped huge mouthfuls of mountain air, and let the turbos whine. Riva’s public relations rep Petra Proksch, who’d decided to brave the elements with us, smiled bravely from the windings of a red woolen scarf.
Turns on the Rivarama were flat-out thrilling. Not only was the helm instantaneously, electrifyingly responsive, but the way the Rivarama carved great green swirls in the lake was classic. Visibility forward was good, except for brief periods while we were coming out of the hole. The helm seat, with its fold-down companion seats on either side, was comfortable, and the adrenaline rush I experienced at top hop was just a tad more sensational than I’d expected—46 mph is fast for an open boat in the Alps in December!
Not long after De Ponte, Proksch, and I returned the Rivarama to her parking spot in the garage, we collectively discovered we were all about half-starved, a state of affairs easily addressed in Italy. So, with snow falling, we joined my wife at the nearby Ristorante Il Chiostro.
The risotto was superb. But not half as superb as the artistically finished, classical performer I continued to marvel at. The Rivarama’s just plain beyond beautiful...and then some.
Riva
(954) 618-0440
|
PAGES:
|
|
2
|
 |
This article originally appeared in the April 2003
issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
|