The first boat shows were held in the Grand Palais and on the banks of the Seine in the 1920s, with boating in France only being enjoyed by a rather small social circle until the early 1960s.
At the instigation of a few enthusiasts who created the Syndicat National des Constructeurs et Négociants en Matériel de Navigation et de Plaisance (National Union of Shipbuilders and Sailing and Sailing Equipment Merchants), a new Salon de la Plaisance (Boating Show) was created in 1962 at the CNIT in La Défense. That was when the first Paris International Boat Show was held.
In 1964, the FIN (Fédération des Industries Nautiques - Federation of Nautical Industries) was officially founded. 1964 also saw the real beginning of the democratisation of boating in France with Eric Tabarly - who was to become a real symbol of this new enthusiasm for boats - winning his first Transat Anglaise transatlantic sailing race.
The first edition brought together 58,000 visitors at an event measuring 23,000m2, with attendance figures then reaching more than 300,000 in the 1990s before stabilising today due to a more complicated economic context, with around 240,000 visitors.
“Nautic” is now an annual show held at the Parc des Expositions in Porte de Versailles; during the event’s annual preparations, extraordinary convoys cross Paris every night, loaded with hundreds of boats of all sizes, all of which are to be shown at Nautic.
Nautic lasts 9 days, spread over two weekends at the beginning of December, and is an unmissable annual event for anyone looking to find out more about nautical innovations for the coming season.
With a thousand crafts of every kind, from kite boards to the large CNB 76, measuring under 1 metre to more than 23 metres, costing 200 euros to more than 2 million euros, more than 20 sectors including sailing, tourism, motorboating, snow sports, new technologies, services, hiring, fishing and equipment and more than 800 French and international exhibitors come together at the Porte de Versailles in Paris in December.