With the new products and world exclusives as numerous as ever at the Paris International Boat Show, the entertainment, the press conferences and the multiple highlights reflect its stature as a major event. Throughout the week, a series of big news events, races, institutions, clubs and champions will roll out a very special programme of meetings and presentations.
On Friday 4 December, a series of presentations will be showcased on the Nautic Stage, starting with the Tour de France à la Voile 2016 at 11:00am, The Transat at 14:30pm and rounding off with the Brest Maritime Festival 2016 at 17:00pm. These three major events alone epitomise the diversity of the marine scene in France, with a clever cocktail of showstopping competitions, major solo epics and giant gatherings complemented by a unique maritime heritage. Furthermore, as a nod to our digital century, the start of the Nautic Transat race will be launched at 19:00pm with Virtual Regatta. For one night only, Nautic Night will reassert its ancestral rights, the Boat Show becoming the French Navy’s biggest bistro.
Saturday 5 December will once again see an impressive array of champions from far and wide, sharing their victories and their ambitions. The prize-giving for the Mini Transat, a genuine hotbed of young talent and innovation, will take place at 16:00pm. This will be preceded at 12:30pm by the team of the moment, Groupama Team France, led by three legendary skippers with a single aim, that of bringing the America’s Cup back to France. Franck Cammas, Michel Desjoyeaux and Olivier de Kersauson will all be at the show to share the ambitions of this national project as well as its sporting and technological networks. From the Mini to the Cup, it’s just a matter of steps at the Nautic…
Sunday 6 December will be the major new boardsports meet with its Nautic SUP Paris Crossing, the largest Stand Up Paddle race in the world, which will this year gather together some 500 riders on the River Seine between the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the headquarters of Microsoft, partner to the race along with Naish and the SNSM, a French organisation saving lives at sea. A dazzling showstopper is guaranteed, at dawn at Notre Dame cathedral, as hundreds of silhouettes glide noiselessly across the Seine. The revenge match will be contested in duels on the Nautic pool over the course of the afternoon, so as the public can get a chance to see these global champions up close, under the warmth of the Nautic’s spotlights at the Porte de Versailles.
Monday 7 December will host several prize-giving ceremonies, including Yacht and Motor Boat of the Year awarded by Moteur Boat Magazine and Voiles Magazine, not to mention that of Sailor of the Year awarded by the French Sailing Federation. This annual powwow, which merges the worlds of boardsports, inshore racing and offshore racing, awards the sailor with the best results of 2015.
Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 December will be marked by all things environmental during the COP21 (Paris’ Climate Conference). In this way, there will be conferences by the European Boat Industry, the French Nautical Industries Federation (FIN) and various protagonists from the fields of boat deconstruction, recycling of materials and all the latest realistic solutions for the preservation of the environment. The Prix du Bateau Bleu, rewarding the best innovation in the boating context, will be awarded by the FIN on Wednesday.
Naturally a great many other announcements and entertainment activities are scheduled throughout this exciting week. Among them is the Nautic Start Up Contest, on Friday 11 at 14:00pm, which will give innovative project developers a few minutes to win over a jury of Internet and watersports professionals, live. Following this, the Nautic Design Award will be allocated on Friday at 18:00pm to the year’s finest motor boats (1 dayboat and 1 cruiser), part of which is awarded by a public vote and the other by a prestigious jury.
Throughout the week, visitors will also be able to experience the wealth of entertainment on offer from Macif at the Nautic pool, including the firing of liferafts, doubtless one of the only opportunities to see this ‘for real’, and the man overboard locate and track systems. There are also demonstrations by pros from the world of wakeboarding, windsurfing and Stand Up Paddle Polo. Come and admire the enthusiasm of the design artists in their shaping shack, relish the vintage motor boats and marvel at Team France’s flying yacht just back from the America’s Cup World Series in Bermuda, before having a go at racing remote controlled model boats. You can also visit the Sail The World workshops, discover the 3D exhibition set up by the Pays de la Loire region, visit Aimée Hilda, the orange lifeboat exhibited by the SNSM, and stop off at the French Navy stand. With the Christmas and New Year festivities fast approaching, why not gad about the publishing aisles in search of a great book, or take a spin around the gallery to unearth the perfect gift for your favourite sailor, whilst trimming the digital sails of your Ultime craft as it competes in Virtual Regatta’s Nautic Transat race between Bermuda and Brest. Whether you’re 7 or 77, a novice or a salty seadog, there are so many things to see and do around the plethora of beautiful hulls that you may almost forget the purpose of your visit! Indeed, don’t miss the ever more striking, high performance, yet accessible boats on display at the show! A host of world exclusives await enthusiasts everywhere.
Loyal partners to the Nautic Paris boat show and nomadic watersports, the legendary Jeep® will be right in the thick of things whether it’s towing a new addition to their range close to Hall4, transporting surfboards, SUP boards or wakeboards to the Spot. Whatever the terrain outside, crews are guaranteed to be nice and dry!
