Cannes kick-starts busy month of European shows

Over 500 exhibitors and 600 boats are gathered for the 40th edition of the Cannes Yachting Festival

The 2017 Cannes Yachting Festival (CYF), which opened today and runs until September 17, marks the beginning of the autumn boat show season with four European shows taking place this month alone. Southampton is the next event, which begins on Friday.

As Europe’s largest on-water show, CYF is of particular significance this year as 2017 marks its 40th edition. There are around 600 boats and yachts at the event ranging in size from 2.1m-65m (7ft-213ft). This includes 214 debuts, be they global, European or other. There are 108 world premieres. Within the show there are 103 sailing boats, 43 multihulls and 45 second-hand yachts on display.

As for attendance, half of the visitors to CYF are international. The main show is being held as always at Cannes’ Vieux Port, while brokerage and second-hand yachts are on display at Port Pierre Canto. CYF extends across a 300,000sq m exhibition area, with 10km of boats and 3km of floating pontoons.

The list of motoryacht brands, sailing craft, RIBs and other boats is one of the longest in the world. Almost every yacht-builder with international ambitions is present at Cannes, except for those at the larger end of the scale which will be exhibiting at the Monaco Yacht Show later this month.

By David Robinson for IBI PLUS NEWS