I had only been in Fort Lauderdale two weeks, when I had to work at the 2022 Palm Beach International Boat Show. The show ran from May 24th thru May 27th. As you know, I’ve worked many shows in the Pacific Northwest, plus Scott and I have been to the Miami and Annapolis boat shows. The Palm Beach International Boat Show was unlike any other show I have attended. The show is located in downtown Palm Beach along Flagler Drive and it features over $1.2 billion dollars worth of yachts and accessories. Here I saw hundreds of boats on the water including 8’ inflatables to Superyachts up to 300 feet in length. There was also a huge display on land, including boats, accessories and food vendors.
OneWater Yacht Group Display
While I’m used to working a very large space with over a 100 boats which are mostly runabouts, this was a very different experience. OneWater Yacht Group had fifteen yachts on display and we had a large tent with an open bar for guests to relax in.
Chris Craft had a very cool design center at the show, which was a show stopper.
The Sunseeker Predator 65 made its’ global debut during the show and it was awesome to be a part of such a media frenzy. We had magazines lined up to do a feature of this beautiful yacht.
So many yachts at the Palm Beach International Boat Show
Everywhere I turned, there were huge displays and gorgeous yachts. I did have the opportunity to tour one of our superyachts on display, a 2005 Palmer Johnson 123. You can say we are not in Kansas anymore! You can find a link to the yacht here.
The superyacht marina was massive. One yacht was so big it had a helicopter and submarine on board. I took a stroll over to the super yacht display to meet a mutual friend.
I was stunned by not only the size of the vessels, but also the level of luxury each manufacturer put into their displays.
The Palm Beach International Boat Show also features smaller boats
From the super yacht marina, I headed over to the smaller boat display. Here they had runabouts, towboats, inflatables, center consoles plus cigarette boats and some very unique vessels. It was obvious that speed is a necessity here, with so many boats having four or more outboards.
One crazy thing I saw was a swarm of bees on a rocket launcher. The following day, that swarm must have been swatted at, because they were flying thru the show and it was crazy!
One irony of working the show, was that the Sea Ray display was right across the water from our tent. If you have been following me over the years, you know that I spent a lot of time marketing the Sea Ray L590 Fly that we (former company) had in stock for a long time. Soon after, we brought in the Sundancer 320 and 370 Outboard, which I spent months marketing. Here these three models were staring at me the entire time during the show!
Vendors at the Palm Beach International Boat Show
The vendor tents had a ton of vendors on display featuring everything from shirts, fishing equipment, boat accessories to food and beverage. I wish I would have spent more time checking out the vendors, but I was working the show and didn’t have time to wander.
Working the Palm Beach International Boat Show was a great experience and I can’t wait for Scott to be able to experience it next year. If you have not attended this show before, I highly recommend it.
As always, thank you for following our journey. Be sure to subscribe to our vlog (video link below) and follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Tune in next week as we start our five day road trip moving from Seattle to Fort Lauderdale. Cheers, Ally
