Riviera Rally

This line of Rivieras came past us in the Great Sandy Straits

I am always pleased to see people enjoying their boats. Ratty knew that “there is nothing—absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats”. They can bring such pleasure, and it sad to see them sitting on a mooring being neglected. So I don’t have any issue about a group of people getting together with others who have chosen the same type of boat. In fact, it’s a good excuse to get out on the water, and especially for people who are new to boating, as it is a good opportunity to get together and talk about who to do it better.

One of the things that Riviera owners need to talk about is how to make their huge wakes less destructive to other users of the waterways (and destructive to the shoreline too). Like a lot of fast motor boats, they don’t really plane on top of the water, instead leaving a huge hole behind and a massive wake. When this lot came noisily up behind us as we were tacking down the narrow channel heading along K’garri near South Whitecliffs, they seemed to be unaware that they should give way to a sail boat, and one of them even aggressively swerved towards us and washed a huge wake up over the steps and into the cockpit.

About a week later we found them again, all anchored together at Lady Musgrave Island. I observed at the time that they each would have used more fuel in their travel out to the island than we would use all year, in SeeBeeZee and the dinghy!