The Cannes Yachting Festival started as a humble affair, and without the huge pomp and circumstance that it has today. The first show was set in the Vieux Port, on the outermost dock of Quai Max Laubeuf. It was quiet and simple, with only about 30 boats, a dozen exhibitors and just a small number of visitors. “Today, some of those exhibitors are still with us!” says Ernoult.

Over the years, under the guidance of Jacqueline Bourey, who directed the show from 1981 until 2001, the Cannes Yachting Festival grew in leaps and bounds. Bourey attributed the success of the event to the passion of the local people and the work of the city to develop the port area. In the beginning, the festival was made up of a majority of French yacht builders and exhibitors. But Bourey realised the importance of branching out. “Pretty soon, the show became a third French, a third Italian and a third the rest of the world – including British, American and German yachting brands,” says Ernoult.

In its current form, the Cannes Yachting Festival takes over the entirety of Vieux Port, along with the neighbouring waterfront Palais des Festivals convention centre. The show also stretches to a second in-water location at Porto Canto. This smaller marina is home to sailboats and brokerage yachts. In 2006, the brokerage space for pre-owned yachts was added, with a capacity for 45 boats.

To further streamline the show, in 2019 Porto Canto became the hub for a dedicated sailboat section of the show, with a whopping 120 new sailboats on display. “We decided to put all the sailboats in the same space – before, we had them scattered all around the event. The idea is for the show to be well organised so visitors know where to go,” says Ernoult. The Yachting Festival organises water taxi transfers between the two ports to help visitors get around easily – quay to quay, it’s a maximum of 10 minutes. And along the way, guests can enjoy seeing the sizable superyachts that are moored in the bay. In 2004, the show added a superyacht extension, which spans a dock that is purpose-built for the event. “This is an amazing improvement, because the quay doesn’t exist outside of the show,” says Ernoult. “We needed to grow up, and this allows us to have 30 big boats, from roughly 25 to 45 metres LOA (length overall).”

Ernoult is proud that the Cannes Yachting Festival is one of the most eclectic boat shows around. A range of vessels are represented – from RIB tenders to superyachts and sailing boats to power catamarans. Onshore is a mix of yachting accessories, from safety gear to furniture. Not to mention, fine watches and fashion. In 2016, a luxury area was added to the show, inside the Palais convention centre. “There is a demand to not only have yachting businesses – our clients appreciate luxury in general,” says Ernoult. “It’s changed the ambience and has been a successful area.”

One thing that makes the Cannes Yachting Festival unique is the ability for some builders, depending on their location in the show, to offer proper sea trials during the event itself. Usually these take place early in the morning or at the end of the day. “Even if only 60 per cent of the boats can go out, that’s still a huge number!” says Ernoult. “No other boat show can do that.”

The Cannes Yachting Festival has kept up with the times, making eco-friendly yachting a priority with the addition of an electric boat section and a special “green route” that highlights eco-friendly products and builders in the show via a map and special signage. While the electric boat section might be small with about 20 vessels in attendance, Ernoult predicts it will grow in the years to come. “The electric movement started with cars, now people need to understand its importance in yachting,” she says. “Being clean and green is in everyone’s heads, and yachting needs to answer to it as well. Our goal is to help develop the future of the industry.”

Taking place every September, the Cannes Yachting Festival has become a staple for yacht builders, provisioners and yachting clientele. Notably, the show kicks off the Mediterranean boat show season, arriving before the Genoa and Monaco shows later in September. “It opens the season,” says Ernoult. “And we have the highest number of brand new premiers worldwide, which is significant for those who want to buy a new yacht.” Ernoult likens the boat show to fashion week, when it’s a chance to see all the new styles of the year. “In yachting, new models come out in time for the start of the autumn boat show season,” she says, “so it’s powerful to be the first one.”

The show has grown in importance and prominence in the last decade alone. More large yachts debut at Cannes than ever before, which entices international press and yachting clients from around the world. “It’s gone from a provincial French boat show to an international show on the world stage – now we regard Cannes as the most important on-the-water boat show in Europe – it attracts customers from literally all over the world,” says Simon Colebrook, Regional Sales Director for Princess Yachts. He recommends that clients do their homework ahead of time and make appointments for the boats they want to see.

In 2021, Cannes was the first Mediterranean yacht show to resume post-Covid. “Covid killed a lot of industries and shows, but not us,” says Ernoult: “We survived and did almost as big a show as 2019. People were so happy to be back.” She admits that travel restrictions made it hard for the Americans to visit last year, but even so, the show welcomed 54,000 unique visitors over its six-day run. This year promises to be the biggest Cannes Yacht Festival yet. Show organisers expect as many as 650 boats, compared to 620 that were on display last year. Besides surpassing past performance, Ernoult’s goal for this year’s show is to simply be with clients and celebrate the yachting lifestyle.

Simon Colebrook, Regional Sales Director for Princess Yachts, sums up the allure of the Cannes Yachting Festival perfectly. “The Cannes boat show has a unique atmosphere – the time of year is perfect, temperature is good, the weather is amazing and you’re on the French Riviera, people are there to enjoy the show and everything Cannes and the Riviera have to offer.”

Milestone moments over the past 45 years 

PRINCESS HAS an enviable spot in the Cannes Yachting Festival of Jette Norde. “It’s a pretty big privilege to be in that spot – they have been there for a long time, and we keep that space for them because they are important exhibitors,” says Cannes Yachting Festival Director Sylvie Ernoult. The stand is west-facing, making it the perfect place to enjoy a chilled glass of rose while watching the sunset at the end of the day.

Princess was one of the first exhibitors in the Cannes Yachting Festival back in 1977. The first boat at the show was the Princess 37, while the largest yacht its ever displayed was the 40-metre tri-deck in 2016. The 45th anniversary of the Cannes Yachting Festival means that Princess is also celebrating its 45th year exhibiting at Cannes. Let’s take a look back at some of the builder’s milestone moments over the years.

In 2015, Princess Yachts celebrated 50 years of being in business, with celebrations taking place during the Cannes boat show. The builder hosted a lovely party on the stand for the soiree. “We are lucky that we have plenty of space on the water and space ashore to do those sorts of things,” says Simon Colebrook, Regional Sales Director for Princess Yachts.

In 2018, Princess debuted the high-performance 10-metre R35 yacht at the Cannes festival. The boat was shipped down to the South of France on the back of a truck and craned over a very high wall into the Chateau Villa Castre, where Princess threw an epic party for its clients. “The challenge was, we had to get the boat out again the same night, onto a truck and launch it in the water and get it back into the show for the opening next day – a few of us pulled an all-nighter,” says Colebrook.

“Cannes is a really important place for us to launch new models,” says Colebrook. Princess Yachts debuts over the years have included everything from the V60 to S62 and the 40M. This yea, the Princess Yachts team looks forward to going back to business as usual. They plan to have an eight- boat lineup this year, celebrating X95, Y85, Y72, S62, F55, F45, V50 and a V40.

Princess Yachts has linked up with some of the biggest luxury brands. This includes a collaboration with Bentley, in which Princess’s interior design team created a limited edition Bentley GT, which was displayed at Cannes. The design included incredible quilted leather seats and gave a nod to yachting with nautical features, such as the use of stainless steel and teak. Another year, Princess hosted a Fendi fashion show. “We turned the pontoon where the boats are displayed into a runway, while our customers sat in the cockpits of the yachts,” says Colebrook. The yachts themselves were also adorned in Fendi Casa items, such as in the soft furnishings and furniture.