See Florida From a Yacht
Achieving distinction takes a lot of work. Achieving distinction while being the new kid on the block takes even more work.
Riviera Yachts is ready to seize an opportunity during charter corporate Florida yacht charter grandest stage, debuting four new models at the 66th Miami International Boat Show next week.
“We’re really going to have a great presence in Miami,” said Michael Scruggs, president and CEO of Riviera Yachts of the Americas in Stuart. “Our marketing guys have really stepped it up and we’re really going to have a lot of fun.”
The annual affair is expected to attract almost 150,000 during its five-day run.
The charter corporate Florida yacht grandest stag show serves as the boating/yachting industry’s launch platform for new products and innovations.
More than 2,000 exhibitors are expected to attend, showcasing everything a boater can dream of or need.
Scruggs, recruited out of retirement in 2005 to head up the United States operations for the Australian pleasure craft builder, is eager to showcase brands available to U.S. customers that range from 33 to 60 feet and $400,000 to just more than $2 million.
Scruggs said the charter corporate Florida yacht grandest stage show will be the ideal venue for Riviera to establish its goal of becoming a long-term player in the domestic sales market for cruising vessels.
The show is produced annually by the National Marine Manufacturers Association and will span three locations — the Miami Beach Convention Center, Sea Isle Marina and Yachting Center and Miamarina at Bayside.
“We generally touch about 50 percent of our buyers at boat shows,” said George Jousma, president of Allied Richard Bertram Marine Group. “The Yacht and Brokerage Show is our best-selling show because we’re meeting people for a second, third and fourth time.”
For boaters with specific interests, Strictly Sail at Miamarina at Bayside has everything the sailor needs; the Big Game Room on the second floor of the Convention Center is entirely geared toward the angler; and the Yacht and Brokerage Show produced by Ginn Sur Mer will convert 1.2 million square feet of Indian Creek Waterway into a $1 billion dockside show room of floating mega and super yachts.
Riviera will have 13 boats in Miami — eight boats at Sea Isle Marina and five more at Florida Yachts International, the company’s Miami-area dealer. They will also roll out two 56 flybridge convertibles — one with an open bridge and one with an enclosed bridge — along with its new M470 sport cruiser and the elegant 4700 sport yacht.
The sport yacht is sure to generate a buzz among cruising boaters, said Scott MacFarland, Riviera’s marketing director.
Riviera also is settling in to new digs on the Treasure Coast. After an extensive search of available waterfront property in Florida, Scruggs relocated Riviera’s American headquarters in September from Riviera Beach to the former Stuart Yacht facility hidden on 1.4 acres along the St. Lucie River’s South Fork.