The Rise of the Super RIB


By Kim Kavin


The Grand850 is just shy of 28 feet


Kim is a national award-winning journalist who has been writing about yachts for two decades. She grew up driving a ski boat and sailing a Hobie Sunfish at her grandfather’s lake house in New Jersey, and today, she has cruised and chartered in and around more than 50 countries and islands, aboard everything from sailboats, catamarans and trawlers to America’s Cup sailing yachts and luxury superyachts.


This article was originally published in the April 2023 issue of Soundings and is published here with our thanks.


features for family day-boating and more.


If you want to understand why “super RIBs” are now showing up at boat shows and marinas nationwide with features and amenities the simple dinghy could never have imagined, you have to go back in time about 40 years, to the era of Cabbage Patch Kids, MTV and Caddyshack.


It was during the 1980s and into the 1990s that rigid inflatable boats really started to evolve for recreational boaters. The style of boat had been invented in the 1960s in the United Kingdom, where the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was trying to find a fix for wear and tear on the fabric bottoms of inshore lifeboats. They


108 | The Report • June 2023 • Issue 104


tried using plywood, but it cracked up in rough waters. Eventually, various builders figured out how to use fiberglass and aluminum with an inflatable collar wrapped around it.


By the time Pat Benatar, REO Speedwagon and Blondie were beaming videos into homes all across America, boaters in France and Italy had fully embraced the RIB as a safe, lightweight alternative to traditional boats. In the early 2000s, European designers started to mix in eye- appealing aesthetics, leading RIBs to become even more popular for people who wanted to cruise over to the bay next door.


Once considered a mere dinghy for larger boats, RIBs are now packed with


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