Grand Pavois La Rochelle · 2027

Agoris analysis · updated November 2026

Key points

• Grand Pavois La Rochelle is an international in-water boat trade show, founded in 1973 and run by an association of marine industry professionals. It is a mixed show leaning towards the general public: admission is paid and, according to the 2026 FAQ, no day is reserved for trade visitors, so exhibitors meet mainly leisure boaters and prospective buyers.
• Next edition: the 55th, from Tuesday 21 to Sunday 26 September 2027, at the Port des Minimes in La Rochelle. The 2027 opening hours have not been published; in 2026 the show opened from 10am to 7pm, and until 6pm on Sunday.
• Organiser: Association Grand Pavois Organisation, a French non-profit association (loi 1901). No co-organiser. Annual frequency. Official website: grand-pavois.com.
• Results of the latest edition, in September 2026: 59,000 visitors, the same as in 2025, 600 international brands from 50 countries, 500 boats of which 250 afloat.
• For exhibitors, the rate card is public: for 2026, €373 excl. VAT in registration fees, then €934 excl. VAT for a monohull under 7.50 m afloat. The 2027 rate card is not yet online.

Who exhibits

Typical profile

The official directory for the 2026 edition lists about 370 entries. Motorboats and sailing boats form the two largest categories, ahead of repair and refit, then public bodies, associations and federations. Around them are engine makers, navigation electronics, sailmakers, chandlery, insurers, banks, ports and marinas, sailing schools and charter companies. The directory also lists craft makers and food outlets, a sign of a show open to a wide public.

The 2026 press kit describes the nature of the offer: 64% motorboats, 28% sailing boats and 8% other. By length, 40% of the boats are under 7 m, 33% fall in the next band, up to 10 m, and 4% are over 15 m. This puts the show in mainstream recreational boating, far from the superyacht segment served by the Monaco Yacht Show.

The governance model is the real singularity of the show for an industrial exhibitor. In 2026, the association's board, chaired by Alain Pochon, included representatives of Catana Group, SPBI Beneteau, Amel Yachts, Jeanneau, Fountaine-Pajot, Grassi Bateaux, Mercury Marine, J Composites, Pochon SA and Navicom. In other words, the show is run by some of its own exhibitors.

Notable exhibitors

The official exhibitor list still shows the 2026 edition: the 2027 list is announced for summer 2027, so none of the names below is confirmed for the upcoming edition.

Present in 2026: among shipyards, Beneteau, Jeanneau, Dufour Yachts, Lagoon, Fountaine Pajot, Chantier Catana, Excess Catamarans, Amel, Hanse and Axopar; among engine makers, Yamaha, Mercury Marine France, Suzuki Marine and Honda Marine France; among electronics, Raymarine, Garmin and Furuno France; among rigging and sails, Harken, Wichard Groupe, Karver Systems and North Sails France. Electric propulsion and refit were represented by Bluenav, Temo, Weenav and Yuniboat, in the Eco-navigation & Sustainable Innovations area with EDF, where the 2026 press kit announced 40 companies and start-ups.

Visitor quality

The audience is mainly boating enthusiasts: the 2026 sales brochure states that 78% are practitioners, and the show's own presentation says that 44% of visitors own a boat. The organiser publishes both figures without a measurement date. No share of trade visitors is published, and no OJS certification or third-party audit of attendance appears.

To set a lead target, the figure to use is the result: 59,000 visitors in 2026, not the 70,000 visitors expected that the commercial and press documents for that edition announced. The association's president describes stable but younger attendance, with different flows depending on the day. He notes strong interest in small motorboats and in 10 to 12 m cruiser-racers, and reports, in a wait-and-see context, "des ventes et un certain niveau d'affaires" (sales and a certain level of business) in many sectors. These sales are not quantified.

The organiser also states that 80% of exhibitors want to return at every edition and 75% recommend the show, with no date or method given.

Events & community

Conference programme

The 2027 programme is announced for sometime in 2027, and the website does not yet name a guest of honour for this edition. The 2026 edition gives a measure of the format.

On the professional side, it hosted EDF Nouvelle-Aquitaine's 6th "Maritime durable" round table, by invitation only, with one session on electric and solar propulsion and another on new sustainable uses. The winners of the 7th Trophées Innovation Nautisme Nouvelle-Aquitaine, organised by Groupe Sud-Ouest, the Atlantic Cluster and the Region, were announced there, with Laurent Ballesta as patron. The show also hosts Voile Magazine's election of the "Voilier de l'année" (Sailboat of the Year).

The conferences, held in the Le Spot area, covered practical topics: refit, charting and routing, or the choice between monohull and multihull for long-distance cruising. Japan was the 2026 guest of honour.

Sea trials and themed areas

Sea trials are the commercial argument specific to this format. Some boats afloat can be tried throughout opening hours from the dedicated pontoon, others only when the pontoons open at the end of the day, at 6pm in 2026. The decision rests with each exhibitor, for trials as for visits on board.

The 2026 edition added two areas aimed at new boaters: "Sortez en mer" (go out to sea), for introductory outings, and "Osez le bateau" (dare to own a boat), with boats under €35,000, financing solutions and training. The organiser presents them as a success, with no figures to back this up. They complement the Multihull, Equipment, Services, Charter & Cruising, Heritage & Know-how, Fishing & Grand Pavois Fishing, Tourism and Grand Pavois Beach areas.

Community & networks

The show relies on the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, the Charente-Maritime département, the La Rochelle conurbation community and the city of La Rochelle, the La Rochelle marina and the Charente-Maritime Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The 2026 partners also include the Fédération des Industries Nautiques, EDF, Crédit Mutuel, Axa Passion, Jeep and Proman.

Exhibitors can organise public relations operations as part of the show: seminars, corporate regattas, outings at sea and private evenings.

On the press side, a dedicated area brings together press releases, the press kit and the media kit. The 2027 accreditation form is not yet online.

Grand Pavois Organisation runs other activities, useful to understand who you are dealing with: the Rallye des Iles du Soleil, the Défi Atlantique, whose 3rd edition is announced to leave Guadeloupe on 7 March 2027 and arrive in La Rochelle from 27 March, and Nice Boating Tomorrow, created in March 2026.

On site: what you need to know

The show occupies the Port des Minimes, on land and afloat: 100,000 m² of exhibition space and 3 km of pontoons, covering pontoons 1 to 7 and the Terre-plein Sud. The layout is mostly open-air, as the organiser has removed most of the large halls. According to the 2026 FAQ, the organiser provides neither Wi-Fi nor a cloakroom on site.

The access information below is from 2026 and should be rechecked for 2027. By car, allow 479 km from Paris, 144 km from Nantes and 184 km from Bordeaux. The Puits Doux visitor car park, in Aytré, is free, with free shuttles to the show every 10 minutes from 9:30am to 7:30pm. By train, La Rochelle is served by TGV from Paris, Bordeaux and Poitiers. From the city centre, the sea bus links the Vieux-Port to the Port des Minimes for €3, every 20 minutes, and the Illico 4 line serves the Plage des Minimes stop. La Rochelle - Ile de Ré airport is linked to the city by the Illico 1B line, Monday to Saturday.

In 2026, admission cost from €15 in advance to €18 during the show, with a €35 pass for the whole duration, and it was free up to and including age 15 and for licence holders of the Fédération Française de Voile. The show is accessible to people with reduced mobility.

For exhibitors, the 2024 CSR report indicates about three weeks of set-up and 7 to 10 days of dismantling. It also mentions shuttles dedicated to exhibitors, and points out that many boats can reach the harbour basin by sea. In 2026, the Minimes car park was closed in zones from 30 August to 8 October around the harbour master's office and the Forum des Pertuis.

How much does it cost to exhibit

The detailed rate card is in the 2026 sales brochure.

Preparing your visit

For exhibitors

• Ask for the 2027 rate card early: the 2026 rate was tied to a 15 April deadline. The website does not yet say whether it will be renewed.
• Follow the process on the Become an exhibitor page: online participation request, then an exhibitor area for additional orders. The sales department, headed by Nathalie Guillonneau, can be reached through the dedicated form.
• Tailor what you show to the real audience: nearly three quarters of the exhibited boats are under 10 m, and the show also serves to attract first-time buyers.
• Treat sea trials as a commercial act: boat availability, time slots, crew. Visitors with a purchase project are invited to book an appointment in advance, which means communicating before the show.
• Use client invitations: they are reserved for exhibitors, competition winners and partners, and are not issued on request.
• Plan your own connection, since the 2026 FAQ states that there is no Wi-Fi at the show.

For decision-maker visitors

• Do not look for a reserved slot: the 2026 FAQ provides for neither a trade day nor an evening opening. Appointments are made directly with the shipyard or dealer, before the show or on the stand.
• Check whether the boat you are interested in is available for trial: not all boats afloat are offered for trials.
• Once published, check the programme for round tables held by invitation: private conferences are flagged there.

CSR policy & initiatives

In 2025, Grand Pavois Organisation published its first CSR report, covering the 2024 edition and structured around seven commitments: waste, catering, water, mobility, inclusion, communication and public awareness. The association has also signed the City of La Rochelle's Éco-manifestation charter.

The measures described are concrete: sorting and secondary sorting by a dedicated team, reusable tableware at caterers, more than 500 bicycle spaces at the entrances, and electric, hybrid or gas-powered bus links. The report also measures what remains to be done: aisle carpet was halved in 2024, but nearly 70% of the carpet is laid on stands, which depends on exhibitors' choices. It mentions an eco-responsible charter co-built with them.

These actions should be distinguished from a certified result. The report gives no quantified carbon footprint for the event, and no ISO 20121 certification appears on the website or in the report. The show's content goes in the same direction as this approach, with the Eco-navigation & Sustainable Innovations area, but it remains an exhibition theme and not a commitment by the organiser.

The show's evolution

Trajectory analysis

The show grew out of an initiative by boatbuilders: four pioneers of La Rochelle's shipyards, Henri Amel, Roger Mallard, Michel Dufour and Fernand Hervé, founded the association in 1973. According to the 2026 press kit, the first edition brought together 34 exhibitors, 64 boats and 3,709 visitors. The offer then widened to equipment makers in 1976 and to motorboats in 1982, and the show settled on the Terre-plein Sud in 1985. The 2020 edition was cancelled because of the pandemic.

The recent trend deserves attention. The organiser's results fall from 80,000 visitors in 2021 to 59,000 in 2025, and both the number of brands and the number of boats dropped sharply between 2024 and 2025, from 800 to 600 and from 700 to 500. The website does not explain these gaps, and it is not possible to say whether the counting scope changed. The stability of 59,000 visitors in 2026 is the first plateau in this series.

The organiser's response is clear: rather than targeting only the already-equipped boater, it seeks to renew its audience with introductory areas and routes to ownership. For an exhibitor, the show remains an important point of contact with enthusiasts of the Atlantic coast, which the organiser presents as the leading boating event of that coast. But it should be assessed on the quality of contacts rather than volume, and it remains to be proven that these new visitors will become buyers.

The dates of the 2028 edition had not been announced at the time of writing.

All data that does not cite a source comes from the organiser's website.

Unless otherwise stated, all factual data in this listing comes from the organiser's official website (grand-pavois.com).