VIVA TRIDANTÉ!

Matthew and Ronnie Reed were looking for a family boat to cruise the local waters near their home in Kingswear, Devon, England, when they spotted a rare—some might say collectible—boat for sale. VIVA TRIDANTÉ! was a 23′ speedboat, built to a design by Sonny Levi, that had raced several times in the Cowes-to-Torquay Race and won her class in the Torbay 100 Race in 1970, beating the likes of Sir Max Aitken in his famous (and much bigger) GYPSY GIRL. There’s even Pathé news footage of her holding her own among some of the top racing boats of the day, a plucky little pocket rocket battling against the elements and helping to cement the Levi legend.

Despite all this history, a 1960s offshore racing powerboat isn’t an obvious choice for a family with two young children. But then, the Reeds weren’t looking for anything obvious. Matthew grew up with boats on the River Dart, starting with a Mirror dinghy and moving on to a variety of open launches fitted with small engines. He joined the Royal Navy at 18 and by the time he was 28 he was captain of a 68' patrol boat capable of speeds of over 25 knots. Since then, his boating has been almost entirely of the sailing variety, including competing in six Fastnet Races, several Cowes Weeks, and a Sydney-to-Hobart. His most recent campaign was racing the 1963 Maxi yacht KIALOA II in the 2023 Fastnet Race.

For their family boat, Matthew and Ronnie were looking for a comfortable motor cruiser, something they could anchor off the beach, sunbathe on, or use for pottering over to nearby Brixham for the weekend. Both have an interest in retro design. Ronnie owns a Renault 4 van, which she believes is one of only two original ones left in the U.K., making it rarer than a Ferrari. So a vintage boat appealed to both of them. They looked at classic British motor launches such as Fairey Huntresses and Fairey Huntsmen, but the boats they saw all needed too much work, and they could find “nothing exciting” in fiberglass boats.

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