Lineup Released For February Show

Yachts Miami Beach organizers released a sneak peek at an early roster of boats slated to make their world or U.S. debut at the show, which is set to take place Feb. 16-20 along Collins Avenue.

The 29th annual in-water-only display presentation covers more than 1.2 million square feet of space over a mile-long strip of Indian Creek Waterway, featuring hundreds of new and used boats valued at more than a billion dollars.

Yachts on display will include the Italian-built 43-foot Evo, being brought by G Marine; a 131-foot Princess; the Ferretti 450; the 120-foot Taiwan-built Horizon; and the 44-foot Overblue Catamaran, says Brett Keating, vice president of consumer marketing for Show Management, the show’s co-owner. 

Also on display will be five boats from Brazilian Schaefer Yachts; a 65-foot and 45-foot yacht from Canadian Coastal Craft, British luxury boat manufacturer Fairline Yachts with its Squadron 53 and four Greenline Hybrid Yachts on display by Seaway Group of Slovenia.

A 56-foot yacht by Turkey-based Sirena Yachts will make its world debut at the show, and its Sirena 64 will make its U.S. debut, with its world debut slated for Boot Dusseldorf in Germany this month.

This year’s show, which features a new layout, look and design, will be connected on water so attendees can navigate the show on the docks without having to use the sidewalk to visit different displays.

Show Management expects to be ahead of schedule in its effort to replace floating dock systems with new, encapsulated docks for Yachts Miami Beach, Keating told Trade Only Today — “which is more than we anticipated at this time.”

The new, environmentally-friendly docks will be 100 percent completed by 2018, Keating said.

“The other environmental initiative we are doing is to work with VolunteerCleanup.org to sponsor the pocket ash trays to all smokers at Yachts Miami Beach,” Keating said. “Cigarette butts are made of plastic and are not biodegradable. Storm drains lead straights to waterways, so we want to keep our waters clean.”

This year’s Yachts Miami Beach will feature a new design by ESDA, a landscape architecture firm that has designed destinations ranging from Atlantis in the Bahamas to the John F. Kennedy Center and Disney’s signature resorts.

Brokerage boats will be at the north end of the show and new boats at the south side, instead of interspersed, as in the past, Keating said.

Admittance, formerly free, now will cost $20. “Now we can actually measure our attendance,” Keating said. “We will be able to use this information for better marketing and will be able to direct consumer segmentation.”

The show will have five entrances in its new layout, each with an information booth and graphics to help visitors find their way.