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Grand Pavois La Rochelle 2026

Posted on by Katamarans

Katamarans Quick Reference Guide

The Grand Pavois returns to La Rochelle from 22 to 27 September 2026. It is the second of two September boat shows we are visiting this year, following Cannes, and it is a different kind of event: a working, in-water show built by the industry.

The Essentials

  • Dates: Tuesday 22 to Sunday 27 September 2026, 10:00 to 19:00 daily
  • Location: Port des Minimes, La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, France
  • Scale: around 700 boats on display, roughly 300 of them afloat, from over 800 brands across some 35 countries
  • Guest Country: Japan: the hall dedicated to Japan
  • Format: boats moored on the pontoons for boarding and sea trials, plus 12 themed areas covering sailing, motor, fishing, equipment, and a beach zone for watersports

Multihulls at the show

Builders and yards

  • Fountaine Pajot – Sail and power catamarans from 40 to 80 feet. The yard’s home base at Aigrefeuille-d’Aunis is a twenty-minute drive from the show.
  • NEEL Trimarans – Cruising trimarans, built in La Rochelle itself.
  • Lagoon – The Lagoon 38 and 43 will be afloat at Port des Minimes for the full run of the show.
  • Excess Catamarans – Showing the sporty Excess 11 and 13.
  • Bali Catamarans – known for its open-plan layout and swing helm-door.
  • Astusboats – Trailerable performance trimarans from Brittany.
  • Aventura Yachts / STGI – Sail and power catamarans from a Tunisian yard building since 2000.
  • GR63 – A 63ft electric ocean-going catamaran, recharged by solar, wind and a methanol fuel cell. Designed and built by Gilles Reigner.

Charter, brokerage and refit

  • Sailoé – Lagoon catamaran charter, bareboat and crewed, across Brittany, the Seychelles, Guadeloupe, Corsica and Polynesia.
  • Corail Caraïbes – Catamaran charter in Guadeloupe and Martinique, plus resale of used Lagoon and Fountaine Pajot boats.
  • Star Voyage Antilles – Bareboat and crewed catamaran charter out of Le Marin, Martinique.
  • Catlante Catamarans – Crewed and cabin-charter catamaran cruises, running for over 20 years.
  • Interparus – A La Rochelle broker selling, chartering and training on catamarans.
  • Reboat – Refits used multihulls to new-boat standard.

Use the finder tool below to search this list alongside the other 350-plus exhibitors, filter by category, or isolate the multihull entries in one tap.

Why Grand Pavois is different

Cannes and Monaco sell an experience built around superyachts and spectacle. Grand Pavois sells proximity: every boat on the pontoons is there to be boarded, and sea trials are booked directly with exhibitors rather than with an agent. Roughly 70% of visitors already own or actively sail a boat, so the crowd is knowledgable rather than aspirational. It feels more like the Multihull Show in La Grande Motte.

The location does the rest. Fountaine Pajot has a yard a short drive from the marina, and NEEL Trimarans builds inside La Rochelle itself, so two of the show’s multihull yards are showing boats close their own production sheds. At Grand Pavois, a good share of the multihull fleet on the water was built close enough to have arrived under its own sails.

A brief history

The show was founded in 1973 by four La Rochelle shipbuilders, Henri Amel, Michel Dufour, Fernand Hervé and Roger Mallard, along with several local riggers, sailmakers and naval architects. Their aim was simple: an in-water show where buyers could meet the people building the boats and test them at sea, rather than look at displays on the dock. The first edition ran from 20 to 23 September 1973, with 34 exhibitors and 64 boats moored on two pontoons in Port des Minimes. It drew 3,700 visitors, more than expected, and the association had to limit access on the final day for safety.

Grand Pavois has run every September since, growing from that first small marina show into one of the top in-water boat shows in the world. It is organised by the non-profit Association Grand Pavois Organisation, a structure almost unique among European boat shows, most of which are now run by private events groups. Each year they name a guest country or maritime region; Japan steps up in 2026.

La Rochelle, in brief

La Rochelle is a historic Atlantic port city in Charente-Maritime, on France’s west coast roughly midway between Nantes and Bordeaux. Its old harbour is guarded by two medieval stone towers, the Tour Saint-Nicolas and the Tour de la Chaîne, a reminder of the city’s long history as a fortified trading and fishing port. Today the city is best known in sailing circles as a working production hub: alongside Fountaine Pajot and NEEL, it is home to Dufour Yachts, RM Yachts, and a dense cluster of sailmakers, riggers and composite specialists, many of whom exhibit at the show. Port des Minimes, where Grand Pavois is staged, is the largest marina on the French Atlantic coast.

Getting there

  • By air: La Rochelle–Île de Ré Airport is about 5km from the city centre, with a bus transfer of roughly 15 minutes. It has direct links to Paris and several other French and European cities.
  • By train: La Rochelle station is served by direct TGV from Paris Gare Montparnasse, journey time around 2h50 to 3 hours depending on the service. Regional trains connect from Bordeaux and Nantes in about 2 hours.
  • By car: take the A10 from Paris or Bordeaux, exiting for La Rochelle. From Paris the drive is around 4h40; from Nantes, about 1h45.
  • To the show itself: from La Rochelle station, the Illico 4 bus (Illico D4 on Sundays) runs to Port des Minimes, or you can walk to the Les Salines car park and take the free shuttle laid on by the organisers. The Minimes district is also an easy cycle from the city centre, with Yélo self-service bike stations dotted around town, and bike racks provided at the show itself.
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