Most yachts are designed for a specific purpose, be it long-distance cruising, sport fishing or entertaining. In this regard, Riviera’s 64 Sports Motor Yacht is something of an anomaly. It can do all those things at once.
For owners who want to make their way from Maine to Miami, pulling back the throttles to 6.6 knots will nearly double the range needed. The marlin are biting? The Riviera 64 I got aboard had hydraulic outriggers, a transom livewell and a cockpit large enough for a half-dozen anglers to fight fish at the same time. Cocktail hour has arrived? When I was aboard with eight people, it seemed as if there were a mere skeleton crew.
As for fit and finish, there is five-coat, high-gloss-varnished, book-matched walnut woodwork. Foldout sections of the salon’s dinette are book-matched on one side and crafted with a starburst pattern on the other. Decking is old-growth teak, sourced for renewability. The enclosed bridge, accessed via an interior staircase, has a wet bar, L-shaped settee and forward lounge in addition to the helm and mate seats. In the galley are a wine chiller, dishwasher and full-size refrigerator with freezer drawers. These are capped off behind more glossy walnut and are secured shut with beefy locking latches.
The thoughtful design elements continue outside. The 64′s open bridge aft, for instance, has an L-shaped settee and a set of controls including a multifunction display.
Belowdecks are three guest staterooms: a queen berth forward, Pullman berths to starboard, and a pair of twin berths that slide together into a double to port. The full-beam master is on this deck amidships. Every stateroom is peaceful and quiet, a function of having real bulkheads as opposed to thin veneer partitions. The quiet- ness is particularly surprising in the master, which is closest to the engine room. The stateroom’s watertight bulkhead door was closed when I approached it, and I could barely hear a sound, but when I swung it open, I discovered that both gensets were running behind all the sound-deadening material.
I found similar tranquility while standing above the engine room, where cruisers and anglers will spend a lot of time. Riviera calls this space the “back porch.” Technically, the area is a mezzanine raised above cockpit level and separated from the salon. But that term doesn’t accurately describe the space.
Walk out of the salon through the stainless-steel-framed sliding door, and—rather than enter the cockpit—you find a room very much like a screened-in porch. Parts of the sides and the back are enclosed (or not) with clear canvas. An L-shaped dinette is to starboard, and a settee is to port.
The area is sure to be the dining spot of choice when cooking up the catch of the day on the cockpit’s integrated electric grill. When someone is prepping a meal in the galley, access to the back porch is easy because a window next to the salon door swings up and open on hinges, connecting the two areas.
Owners who prefer an outdoor experience more akin to lounging on a wide-open, sun-warmed patio can walk up to the bow. There’s a full-size settee up there, plus a lounge and cocktail table.
Usually, choosing a yacht requires making some sacrifices. An owner might swap luxury for fishability, usable interior space for usable exterior space, range for speed, and so on. But the Riviera 64 Sports Motor Yacht left me scratching my head, trying to think of what someone would have to give up to own it.
I’m still thinking—and probably will be for a long time to come.
Take the next step: rivieraaustralia.com
