Cars -- 6 hours ago
Words: Rory FH Smith
The tale of how the Monte Carlo Offshorer came to be a nautical icon is as glamorous as its name would lead you to believe. There’s a daring superboat race between London and Monte Carlo, dashing Italians and a design borrowed from the US Navy. Oh, and let’s not forget its ties to 007.
Born in a time of engineering exuberance, when commercial air travel was super- sonic, humankind was messing about on the moon and cars were shaped like spaceships, the Offshorer was designed to be a supercar for the sea in the early 1970s.
The original idea was dreamt up after a Riva Aquarama Zoom superboat won its class in the 1972 London to Monte Carlo race. The boat was prepared by Carlo Rossi and piloted by his son, Gianfranco Rossi. Together they went to meet their friend Carlo Riva after their victory with an idea in mind.
As the father of the effortlessly elegant Riva Aquarama, Carlo Riva knew a thing or two about designing boats, so the idea for a multi-step hull — the likes of which had only been deployed by the US Navy previously— found him well. The modern, fibreglass hull was designed by Bob Hobbs, a naval architect in Miami, while the commission- ing fell to boat builder Cal Connell with business backing from Italian entrepreneur Renato Della Valle. By 1976, just short of 40 Offshorers had been built and when the 1980s hoved into view, the new and improved Offshorer 30 had arrived.
Replete with two Crusader V-drive engines that produced 320 hp, the marque went on to sell nearly 400 Offshorer 30s, marking a golden age for the sleek speedboat with pin-sharp styling. It quickly found fame as a Riviera status symbol — the preferred way for playboys, actors and anyone who was anyone in the 1980s Mediterranean social scene to blitz about the beachfronts. With plenty of lounging space, speed and oh-so-eighties styling, it was the craft to be seen in. In 1995, the Offshorer even gave Pierce Brosnan a ride across Monaco’s Port Hercule in the Bond blockbuster GoldenEye. While the story of the original Offshorer ran dry by the turn of the millennium, a new chapter is emerging with the MC 30 Offshore.
“The new MC 30 Offshore is the result of a total modern reinterpretation of the iconic boat, considered one of the most fas- cinating boats of the nineties,” says Gianluca Toso, one of the brains behind the new craft. He, alongside Gianni De Luca and Gianfranco Rossi — the man whose victory in 1972 sparked the original idea — came together in 2023 to collaborate and bring the icon back to life.
Designed by Nuvolari & Lenard studio, the new MC 30 shape and styling issues a nostalgic salute to its predecessor, as two hefty 6.2-litre Mercruiser petrol engines bring the propulsion firmly up to date with 700 hp available at the propeller, meaning that the boat can exceed 50 knots on the water, rising up above the waves in less than seven seconds.
“Comfort, greater space, power, racing speed and top-level technology make this object,” says Toso, before adding: “To quote architect Dan Lenard, ‘It’s a special toy that no one needs, but which becomes an object of desire for those who can afford it.’”
This article was taken from the summer 2025 issue of Gentleman's Journal, which you can read more about here.
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