The largest yacht in Fort Lauderdale this week was not built for pleasure alone. Oceanco’s Draak measures 305 feet, and she comes fitted out as a working companion to the research vessel Leviathan, with a dedicated dive center and a hyperbaric chamber on board. She will sit at Superyacht Village as the headline act of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, in a fleet where the second-largest name on the dock, Feadship’s Lady Christine, gives up 82 feet to her.
Draak leads the 67th Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, which opens Wednesday, October 28, and runs through Sunday, November 1, across six locations. It is the largest in-water boat show in the world, and this year the organizers have programmed the hours off the boats as deliberately as the boats themselves. For readers heading to Florida this week, the show rewards a plan. The debuts cluster at Superyacht Village and Bahia Mar, both VIP rooms have been reworked, and tickets exist only online, so the first decision is made before you leave home.
The debuts worth crossing the show for
More than 50 vessels debut this week. Lady Christine, at 223 feet, carries a cruising range of roughly 7,600 nautical miles, enough to cross the Atlantic and keep going. Hakvoort’s Scout, a 209-foot ice-class explorer, is built for the opposite end of the map. The Pearl 100 Hybrid is the first Pearl Yachts model with hybrid propulsion, a sign of where production builders are placing their money. Viking Yacht Company and Valhalla Boatworks bring four world premieres between them, and the Prestige M8 EVO and the Absolute Navetta 66 make their United States debuts. An independent panel judges the debuting boats for the FOX Sports Best of Show competition, with separate winners above and below 60 feet and a one-hour television special to follow. “FLIBS is known around the world for the incredible vessels it brings to Fort Lauderdale, but the experience extends well beyond the docks,” said Phil Purcell, CEO and president of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida, which owns the show.
What the VIP wristband buys this year
The Windward VIP Experience now works as two rooms with two different tempers. The Windward VIP Lounge at Superyacht Village, presented by Pier Sixty-Six, is the grander of them: premium open bar, gourmet food, private restrooms, complimentary self-parking, and entry a full hour early through the Superyacht Village entrance. The Windward VIP Cabana Club has moved this year to Bahia Mar Marina, in partnership with Visit Lauderdale, and trades scale for shade, a cabana-style retreat above the water. Both rooms are fed by two television chefs, Ryan O’Sullivan of Hell’s Kitchen and Dave White of Below Deck and Chopped. Outside the ropes, the Goslings Island Bar pours the show’s official rum between Docks C and D at Bahia Mar, The Vessel Miami floats as a lounge on the water, and Las Olas Marina hosts the week’s most photographed novelty, a floating pickleball court, complete with a tournament for yacht crews sponsored by One Sotheby’s International Realty.
Arriving is part of the program
The commute has been upgraded. A helicopter shuttle now runs from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport straight to a temporary landing platform at Pier Sixty-Six. Once you are on the ground, 10-minute private helicopter tours lift off over the beaches, the waterways, and the fleet, carrying up to five passengers at $600 per flight, and Wave Helicopters has its new air-conditioned Robinson R44 on display for anyone who wants to inspect the merchandise first. The earthbound route still works: the Broward County Convention Center is the transportation hub, with more than 3,000 parking spaces at a flat $20 a day and complimentary shuttles and golf carts running to Bahia Mar and Superyacht Village. Brightline trains serve Fort Lauderdale, and Water Taxi passes cost $15 a day. Show hours run from noon to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are sold only at flibs.com. There is no box office at any gate.
If your schedule allows one kindness, make it Wednesday. Preview day opens at noon, the crowds are still at the airport, and the helicopter shuttle can put you on the dock at Pier Sixty-Six while everyone else is still looking for parking.
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