Le Nautique de Saint-Malo · 2027

Agoris analysis · updated November 2026

Key takeaways

• Le Nautique de Saint-Malo is a boat show open to the public: its rules describe it as "a general-public show, open free of charge to visitors". For an exhibitor, it is a direct sales channel to boaters and future buyers, combined with a meeting point for the western France industry.
• Next edition: the 3rd, from Thursday 8 to Sunday 11 April 2027, around the Duguay-Trouin basin, between the Quai St-Malo and the Quai Duguay-Trouin. Open from 10:00am to 7:00pm Thursday to Saturday, and from 10:00am to 6:00pm on Sunday.
• Organiser: CCI Ille-et-Vilaine, with the APNCE (Association des Professionnels du Nautisme de la Côte d'Émeraude), the City of Saint-Malo and its urban area, Edeis, the SNBSM and Bretagne Plaisance as partners, and the support of the Brittany Region.
• Annual frequency: two editions held, in 2025 and 2026.
• 2026 results published by the organiser in its press release of 19 April 2026: 26,000 visitors, 174 exhibitors, 200 boats and 80 boat brands, across 22,000 m² of exhibition space.
• Target announced for 2027: 180 exhibitors, 200 boats and 90 boat brands. These are targets, not results.
• Date to note for exhibiting: 30 November 2026, the deadline for priority exhibitor status, placed in the first round of allocations.

Who exhibits

Typical profile

The 2027 rules admit three families of companies: builders of boats, watersports equipment, beach craft, personal watercraft and engines; their importers, distributors, resellers and agents; and service, finance and training companies linked to boating activities. Unless a waiver is granted, the "Secteur Professionnel" is reserved for companies registered in the Trade and Companies Register for more than a year. Private individuals can also put their second-hand boat up for sale, displayed afloat.

The 2027 partner pack describes an offering widened to related sectors, insurance and clothing, with the presence of institutions such as the Ministry of the Sea and the Bretagne Next agency. The website sorts the 2026 exhibitors into ten families after the brands: chandlery and sailmaking, boatyards and dealers, small craft, decoration and clothing, fishing and diving, rental companies, services, insurers and financiers, events and catering, associations.

The positioning rules out the very large yacht: Jean-Philippe Crocq, president of the CCI, explained before the first edition that the show was not aimed at the large vessels of Cannes, home of the Cannes Yachting Festival, but at an offering in proportion to the local marinas. It also differs from Nauti Pro in Bordeaux, reserved for professionals in the equipment sector, and from Navexpo in Lorient, devoted to work boats.

Notable exhibitors

The 2027 list has not been published. The 2026 exhibitors page gives a sense of the offering.

On the boat and engine brand side: Bénéteau, Jeanneau, Zodiac, Boston Whaler, Bombard, Quicksilver, Bavaria, Hanse, Dufour, Tofinou, Yamaha, Suzuki, Mercury, Honda and Volvo Penta. A brand on display is not necessarily a stand of its own: the 2026 results release cites Bénéteau through La Ville Audrain.

On the local network and equipment side: Rouxel Marine, Fil Marine, Husson Marine, Dinard Marine, Alubat, Garmin, Raymarine, Navicom and Quantum Sails. On the services side: Pantaenius, April Marine, AXA, WTW, the Channel ports and those of Jersey, Les Glénans and the SNBSM.

Visitor quality

The organiser says it attracts visitors largely drawn from the boating world and carrying concrete projects. It states that boats were sold on site in 2026 and reports exhibitors satisfied with their contacts. Karine Bidard, of La Ville Audrain (Bénéteau), sums up the edition: "We had to convert the try, and we have."

The published geographic origin is very regional: 67% from Brittany, mainly Ille-et-Vilaine and Côtes-d'Armor, 15% from the Pays de la Loire, 10% from Normandy and 8% from Paris. This is useful for a dealer, less so for a brand looking for a national audience.

The share of professionals is not published. A professional badge exists, giving access to the site from 9:00am to 8:00pm, but no figure measures it, and the pages read mention neither OJS certification nor an audit of attendance. With free entry, the 26,000 visitors of 2026 are a volume, not a number of prospects: the sorting happens at the stand.

Programme & community

Programme

The 2027 programme and plan are not published: the dedicated page refers to 2027 without detail. The 2027 partner pack provides for an inauguration followed by a partners' evening, and offers, in its partnership packs, a team to compete in the 24h Paddle by Quiksilver/Roxy.

In 2026, the "Transitions & Innovations Durables" area, organised by the Bretagne Next agency on the initiative of the Brittany Region, brought together notably Ecoshape, Flow, Unda, Mayero, Ox Eye, Playa Rent and Fendsea, with a pitch session and two round tables announced in the programme.

On the water and on the quayside

The basin is the heart of the format. The 2026 edition presented a tugboat demonstration and a rescue demonstration there, and the results release cites the departure of Energy Observer among the activities; its founder Victorien Erussard was the patron of that edition. The 24h Paddle by Quiksilver & Roxy brought together 115 participants. A competition for the finest refits of classic sailing boats was announced with Voile Magazine.

For an exhibitor, these activities bring family footfall as much as buyers. They are not a commercial argument in themselves, but they explain the crowds on the quays.

Community & networks

The show was born from a request by local professionals: according to the APNCE, no boat show was held on the Channel coast. The association helped sell the exhibition spaces and takes part in following up the project. Alain Pichavant, former general commissioner of the Nautic de Paris, was presented as the show's managing director at the first edition.

The partners page, which is undated, shows Quiksilver and Roxy as gold partners, and the SNSM, the Fédération des Industries Nautiques, Saint-Malo Agglomération, the Route du Rhum and the Bretagne Next agency as silver partners. The 2027 pack offers four partnership packs, from €1,000 to €6,000.

On the press side, the partners page shows Voile Magazine, Voiles et Voiliers, Moteur Boat Magazine, Pêche en Mer, ici Armorique, Ouest-France, Le Pays Malouin and Les Malouins dans la course. The organiser counts 115 press mentions for the 2026 edition.

On site: what you need to know

The show occupies the Quai St-Malo, 1B Quai Duguay-Trouin, an exhibition centre created and managed by the CCI, the Quai Duguay-Trouin and the basin of the same name, close to the walled city. The tourist office gives the hall a modular capacity of 800 to 2,400 m², extendable to 7,000 m². The 22,000 m² announced are therefore played out largely outdoors and afloat: the choice between hall, outdoor space and a berth afloat matters as much as the surface area.

Saint-Malo is 1 hour from Rennes and 2 hours 15 minutes from Paris by train. By car, allow 1 hour from Rennes, 1 hour 15 minutes from Saint-Brieuc and 2 hours 45 minutes from Brest. The Paul Féval park-and-ride, at the entrance to the town, costs €3.30 a day with a free shuttle to the walled city; the Saint-Vincent underground car park has 481 spaces. People with reduced mobility park free of charge on the street, and the show is accessible to them.

The show is open from 10:00am to 7:00pm on Thursday 8, Friday 9 and Saturday 10 April 2027, and from 10:00am to 6:00pm on Sunday 11 April. Entry and activities are free. Catering points are planned, dogs are allowed on a lead and there is no cloakroom. For accommodation, the site refers to the tourist office.

How much it costs to exhibit

Preparing your visit

For exhibitors

• Aim for 30 November 2026: the complete application, with its deposit, secures priority exhibitor status. From 1 December to 28 February 2027, applications fall into the second level, served according to the spaces remaining. After that, admission is at the organiser's discretion.
• Plan for the payment schedule: 30% with the application, 40% on 31 January 2027, 30% on 15 March 2027. Everything must be paid by 31 March at the latest. The participation request goes with the insurance certificate to commercial@salonnautiquesaintmalo.fr.
• Read the cancellation terms: for a priority exhibitor, full refund of deposits before 31 January, then 20% due until 8 March, 80% until 24 March, and the full amount from 25 March.
• For boats, supply the precise list of each unit, with make, model, dimensions and weight: without it, no stand is allocated and the arrival schedule cannot be drawn up.
• Plan the set-up: Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7 April 2027 from 8:00am to 10:00pm, no boat before Tuesday 9:00am, installation completed by Thursday 8:00am. No dismantling before Sunday 6:00pm, with spaces cleared on Monday 12 April before 6:00pm according to the rules' article on dismantling, whereas its opening calendar says 7:00pm: to be confirmed with the organiser.
• In the hall, bear the constraints in mind: no rigging from the ceiling, 2.50 m maximum height without a construction approval, to be requested before 24 March 2027, a date that also applies to declaring a co-exhibitor.

For professional visitors and buyers

• Do not expect a day reserved for professionals: the rules provide for none, and the show is open to everyone from the first day.
• To buy, identify the local dealers in advance: the offering includes many regional networks. The site also runs a second-hand boats section.
• To sell your own boat, look at the conditions afloat: private individuals are admitted there.

CSR policy & initiatives

The show presents itself as virtuous and committed to an environmental transition. In substance, this can be read in the space devoted in 2026 to sustainable innovations, and in the presence of the APER, the eco-organisation of the leisure boat recycling sector, among the exhibiting associations. The sponsorship by Victorien Erussard in 2026 went in the same direction.

This content must be distinguished from an organisational commitment. The show's website publishes neither a formalised CSR policy, nor a carbon footprint, nor ISO 20121 certification, and the pages consulted on the Quai St-Malo's website do not mention any either. The only documented label concerns a partner: the port of Les Sablons, managed by Bretagne Plaisance, has been certified "Ports Propres" since 2020, with the addition "actifs en biodiversité" since 2023, unrelated to the organisation of the show.

The local anchoring is clearer: the City of Saint-Malo, its urban area and the Brittany Region are partners, and the City said in 2025 that it wanted to guarantee free access to preserve the popular character of the event.

How the trade show has evolved

Trajectory analysis

The show is young: only two editions, and no long series from which to judge its robustness. The first brought together 157 exhibitors and nearly 19,000 visitors, whereas the president of the CCI expected between five and ten thousand before the opening. The second rose to 174 exhibitors and 26,000 visitors, in a context that the organiser itself describes as complex.

The number of boats, for its part, is no longer growing: more than 215 in 2025, 200 in 2026, and 200 expected in 2027. The growth targeted for 2027 concerns exhibitors and brands. The capacity of the basin is one possible explanation, but the organiser does not state it.

The other question is reach. With 67% of visitors from Brittany, the show remains regional, and the stated ambition of becoming the major meeting point of the West will be measured by the share of visitors from outside Brittany in the next results. A national brand will find there first of all a relay for its local network, which remains a valid reason to exhibit. The dates of the 2028 edition had not been announced at the time of writing.

All data without an explicit source comes from the organiser's website.

Unless otherwise stated, all factual data in this listing comes from the organiser's official website (salonnautiquesaintmalo.fr).