Europe’s and possibly the world’s largest in-water boat show opened yesterday in this historic port on the French Atlantic coast.
Once again, this annual boat fest is showing off the unparalleled range of France’s thriving boat building industry.
The increasing popularity of multihulls among cruising sailors was shown by the wide choice of catamarans and trimarans.
Attracting much interest was this catamaran with electric propulsion, marking a steady trend away from polluting marine diesel engines.
But what seemed to attract most interest among visitors was Lola, a 100 year old beauty built in Denmark in 1919 and looking very much out of place among her sleek neighbours…
…such as this Exploration 52, the flagship of the Garcia boatyard.
Yeti Explorer, a sistership of my previous Aventura IV, had just returned from a maiden voyage to Norway before setting off on a more ambitious high-latitude expedition.
Finally, the organisers of this boat show have gone out of their way to help those who cannot decide between one, two or three hulls … by putting on display something that I have never seen at a show before: this eye-catching seaplane.
