Riviera turns 20

Ironically, Bill Barry-Cotter, the head of the largest boatbuilding company in Australia, began life far from the salt air and sea spray. But as a country boy living on a grazing property in Adelong (NSW), he quickly learnt how to use his hands, fashion things from timber, and battle on in the face of adversity.

LOVE STORY
When his family moved to Sydney, Barry-Cotter did what many young lads did at the time. He joined the local sailing club. It was here that his love of boating began. One thing led to another and Barry-Cotter took up an apprenticeship as a shipwright. Soon the ideas for boats were flowing like a spring tide.

His first idea was for a timber 27ft cruiser. Back then virtually everyone was a one-off boatbuilder, he says. What Barry-Cotter set out to make was a production-type cruiser. And there began the journey that led to Riviera Marine as we know it today...

Barry-Cotter's first boat was dubbed a Mariner. It was made from Oregon pine, mahogany and Australian hardwoods. It was cold-moulded and double-diagonal planked. Between 1966 and 1968 all Mariner boats were built this way. Built by hand from timber.

No matter how you look at it, Barry-Cotter is more than just a figurehead. He is in fact a traditional shipwright who possesses a good deal of business acumen. The last timber boat he crafted was launched in 1972, after which fibreglass has ruled the waves. It was then that the next generation of Mariners were born.

His favourite Mariner, the 26 Pacer, could be assembled in four days. It was the boat that put the wheels in motion for Barry-Cotter. The Pacer was the first real-volume production boat, he says proudly, and a springboard to bigger and better things.

Despite the mechanisation of Mariner, production boatbuilding in no way compromised Barry-Cotter's standing. To this day he considers himself a traditional shipwright. He could still build a boat from timber with his own hands if he wanted to... "if I had the patience," he says with a laugh.

"I still have an interest in old timber or classic boats. I always wanted to buy a Riva. In actual fact I have some photos of a Riva on my desk right now that have been sent to me from overseas. What I'd like to do is restore a classic boat," he says.

While the Pacer 26 is his favourite Mariner, he says he may one day resurrect the moulds for the timeless Mariner 43. For what it's worth, this is my favourite Mariner. A semi-displacement boat that can go places at low cost, the 43 may well be Riviera's answer to the rising cost of fuel. More on this point later...

HANDS OF TIME
In 1980, the man behind Mariner established Riviera Marine on the Gold Coast. He created his own line of flybridge cruisers as well as making others, such as Grand Banks and Hatteras, under licence. If Barry-Cotter could turn back the clock, he would have defined Riviera's place in history long ago... That is, building what the Americans like to call convertibles.

But as polished as the new Riviera convertibles are, he still thinks there is room left for improvement. Driven by customer demand, he used to do running changes on the boats as he saw fit. Now, however, he saves them up for a once-a-year update.

"I look at the new Riviera 40 and think I have to update the entire range evolutionary thing," he explains. So, too, the way that boating journalists and the industry get on.

The days of doing boat tests from behind the veil of a free lunch are over, agrees Barry-Cotter. These days you need to get some wind in your hair and to have your boats tested for what they were designed to do. Barry-Cotter has had run-ins with past boating editors, even finished up in court, but tellingly his old foes seem to be his good friends these days. Maybe it's just a case of everyone mellowing with age.

His most embarrassing moment? When a Riviera 46 caught on fire in Pittwater some years back. As it turned out it wasn't his or the company's fault, but a problem with the motors. But at one stage there was some serious finger pointing. And no-one likes to see everything they've worked to achieve go up in flames.

Indeed, it is for reasons of pride that Barry-Cotter maintains his hands-on involvement with the company today. Though he has stepped away from the day-to-day running of things, partly to play with his raceboat, he is involved in the R&D. In fact, he plans to incorporate some of the raceboat technology he has been exposed to in his sportscruisers.

How a new Riviera is spawned can be put down to a meeting of minds. The draft would take shape after numerous think tank or green hat sessions once a week for six months with a group of key people. In most cases, they would then build a prototype and go from there.

Though not a lover of computers, Barry-Cotter admits they play a big part in modern-day boatbuilding. He has naval architects on hand, but tends to use industrial designers - those whom he senses have a special talent - to create the space utilisation which has become a hallmark of Riviera boats.

GANG OF FIVE
So, what new models are on the drawing board... or hard disk? Riviera has five new boats in the pipeline ranging from a 58ft luxury flagship due for release sooner rather than later, down to a 28-footer which might, like the old Mariner Pacer, set the cruising world alight.

As a manufacturing entity, Riviera, which recently opened a new factory in Coomera (Qld), is ranked among the top 20 exporters in Australia. Riviera plans to build 500 boats a year at this new factory, which includes a fully-enclosed 30-berth marina. The majority of the boats will be exported. These offshore markets are what help support the company in case of an economic downturn.

Barry-Cotter says he can't see the good times ending just yet - especially from behind the safety cell of his favourite high-powered offshore racing boat. More than anything, it's powerboat racing that thrills him these days.

"It's just a great adrenaline rush - the speed, the competition - but to me it's the technology that is amazing," he says.

It's also a rather exclusive club. Only the other day, Barry-Cotter was having a cup of coffee with two Arabs. One of them was the finance director, or treasurer, of Dubai.

Among the local boatbuilders, Barry-Cotter has most respect for Dave Warren as a tradesman. Their paths crossed during their formative boatbuilding years. On the production side of things, and as one businessman to another, he maintains a good relationship with Barry Spooner from International Marine (which produces Caribbean cruisers).

Only the other day, Barry-Cotter called Spooner to see if he had a spare pair of motors. As it transpired, Spooner was prepared to lift the motors out of a boat he was building to keep Barry-Cotter happy. Such is the camaraderie within the industry, which so often goes unnoticed.

On the international scene, Barry-Cotter says he admires Grand Banks and Hatteras.

HEIGHT OF HYPOCRISY
Politically, Barry-Cotter feels that government intervention and bureaucracy are getting in the way of boating. In Sydney, for example, the pollies are scoring points by opposing the expansion of marinas. Yet at the same time, there is a dearth of public berths on Sydney Harbour. Meeting environmental controls is another ongoing challenge.

Which leads me to ask what will happen if the prices of fossil fuels - of petrol and diesel - begin to make powerboating uneconomical? What kind of boat would Riviera produce if diesel became, say, $5 or $10 a litre in today's dollars?

"I am very concerned about fuel prices. It could have an effect on the industry," Barry-Cotter says, "but probably a more dramatic effect on where our models go. I think there will be a market coming up - regardless of fuel prices - for a long-range cruiser."

A semi-displacement Riviera cruiser capable of carrying a lot of fuel and going places cost effectively sounds like a good idea. No doubt the design team is already working on the blueprints.

Meantime, Barry-Cotter bids farewell and boards a plane for Turkey. Another round of races in the Class 1 World Offshore Championships awaits. And another new Riviera or two, no doubt.

BUILDING AN ICON
The real Barry-Cotter story started long before Riviera's establishment in 1980....

1966
Bill Barry-Cotter establishes Mariner Cruisers in January. First boat built - a timber 27-footer. Five people on the payroll by the end of the year.

1967
Operation moves to Darley St, Mona Vale (NSW), just a few kilometres from the original facility. Two men who are still on the staff of Riviera Marine today join the company - Bob Haygarth and Peter Brown. (Several other employees from the early days are still involved more than 33 years on).

1968
Mariner Cruisers builds its last timber boat - a 40-footer. With the arrival of the fibreglass age, the company forges ahead.

1975
Barry-Cotter purchases the original Garden St premises and builds his first boat manufacturing facility to his own design, eventually employing a staff of 60. The first 'glass boat is really 'half and half', a 25-footer with a fibreglass hull and timber cabin.

1975-78
The first all-fibreglass boat, the 30ft Mariner, is followed by a range that really sets Mariner Cruiser soaring. More than 400 24.5ft and 26.5ft Mariner Pacers are delivered. Two flybridge cruisers are introduced that become synonymous with the Mariner name - the 31 and 34. The company also delivers more than 100 Mariner 43s - the dreamboat of gamefishermen of the day.

1978
Barry-Cotter announces Mariner Cruisers is sold.

1980
Barry-Cotter returns to the boating industry, moves to Labrador (Qld) and establishes Riviera Marine on a six-acre land holding. Production lines are housed in 12,000sqft.

1982
A young Wesley Moxey is appointed to work in R&D.

1983
Riviera is granted a licence to build craft carrying the revered Grand Banks name. (The legendary US marque Hatteras follows suit and is also granted a licence, while Riviera also forges a relationship with another US conglomerate, Genmar Corporation, and continues to build a range of boats for one of Genmar's companies, Wellcraft Marine.)

1986
Export really begins to take off for Riviera. The US is the key market.

1988
Struggling to maintain its impetus without its 'founding father', Mariner Cruisers is placed in the hands of liquidators and is reacquired by Barry-Cotter. And Moxey is appointed Riviera Marine's general manager.

1991
Manufacture of both Riviera and Mariner is carried out at the Queensland site. Several Mariner Cruisers are built over the ensuing 12 months, before the brand name is (temporarily) consigned to the history books.

1996
Sales go 'through the roof'.

1997
Florida 'office' of Riviera (dealer South Florida Yachts) opens. Riviera's 4000 Express launched.

1998
Mariner is relaunched with the introduction of the 3850.

1999
Production lines are housed in a new factory of more than 78,000sqft on the Coomera River (Qld).

2000
Completion and official opening of the huge new Riviera complex.