R Marine Perth – Perth, Western Australia

One of the most popular annual events staged by R Marine Perth is the fun-filled Riviera Raft Up at Matilda Bay on the Swan River.

This year’s annual afternoon get-together on December 4 saw 26 Rivieras spanning all our current Flybridge, Sport Yacht and SUV collections, as well as a range of classic models including an M360 Sport Cruiser.

For R Marine Perth’s Michael Pitman, it was a chance to meet the fun-loving West Australian fraternity of Riviera owners for the time in his new role of dealer principal.

“It was a real hoot,” he said. “A very enjoyable event with great people.

“The team did a great job organising it all and everyone I spoke with absolutely loved it – I felt it was a real credit to our sales manager Gary Watkins and the R Marine Perth crew.

“There were an average of 6-7 guests for each yacht, so the final numbers for the afternoon totalled over 150 people.”

Local entertainer Ella Bourne and her three-piece band performed from the cockpit of a Riviera 40 Open Flybridge that was backed in to face the rafted-up yachts, while drones captured the action from above.

Mark Mawby and Nigel Warr from Sirocco Marine Perth provided two BRIG tenders that ferried late arrivals to and from shore, and were also popular with guests for demonstration runs.

Club Marine provided gift bags for each of the yachts and their flags were flown high in appreciation. Club Marine also provided a $500 prize voucher that was awarded to the team aboard 2003 3850 Open Flybridge, Shiraz, owned by Stuart and Sharon Brown.

“This was our fourth year at the Raft-Up and it’s always something really special,” Stuart told Experience magazine. “We’ve been every year since we bought Shiraz and it’s a great chance to catch up with the Riviera Family and share the fun with friends from my wife’s golf club.

“The band was excellent once again – in fact our friends have already put their names down for next year.”

Although the official formalities ended around 4.30pm, most yachts continued well into the evening, with some choosing to stay the night.

R Marine Perth’s next event is the six-day Geographe Bay Experience from 3-8 March 2016, which includes the Labor Day public holiday in Western Australia.

Gary Watkins, R Marine Perth’s sales manager, said there were already 16 Rivieras confirmed for the cruising event, which was shaping up as bigger and better than ever.