Nobody would expect it to be so hot at the Boat Show. It always falls on the October 12th long weekend and, although Port Vell invites good sun, this year's heat exceeds all expectations. The straw beach hats given away by some exhibitors have become the essential ally of this edition, protecting attendees a bit during these last days of an extreme and eternal summer. You can smell the sunscreen of those who came more prepared and were more foresighted. There are even stands that sell it.
The 61st edition of the Boat Show, organized by Fira de Barcelona, kicked off on Wednesday with the participation of 240 exhibitors and the forecast of attracting more than 50,000 attendees until Sunday. Soon, potential buyers of the sailboats and yachts moored in the city's port began to arrive, aware of the ritual that requires them to take off their shoes before boarding any boat that has caught their attention.
The show presents a wide variety of sailboats and yachts, with 160 boats in the floating exhibition, 20 fewer than the previous year due to the coexistence of the show with the bases of the America's Cup teams, already installed in the port to train for next year's regatta. For this reason, the space occupied in the Moll d'Espanya has been reduced by half.
Despite this impact and the one it will have next year, with a date change on the table, the president of the Nautical Show, Luis Conde, is convinced that the competition will generate a very pro-nautical movement in the city. "We had it with the Olympic Games, with which Barcelona stopped turning its back on the sea and began to look at it. Now it's a matter of getting into the sea, of saying how I take advantage of this sea I have, how I maintain it, how I clean it, how I enjoy it... That's where we are," he explains in an interview with The New Barcelona Post.
In that sense, in the waters of the Moll de la Fusta, there are sailing boats. Among them there is a completely electric one, an incipient trend in the sector that will still take time to become widespread, especially due to the difficulty of providing an extensive and capillary charging infrastructure. Even so, the Catalan Noster shows that there are alternatives with a sailboat that charges with the movement of the propeller and also uses solar panels incorporated into the deck, achieving an autonomy of between four and ten hours depending on the engine revolutions.
Based in Port Balís, in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, the company is dedicated to boat rental through the payment of a fee. Each sailboat is used by different users, who share the calendar, with the aim of maximizing use and preventing them from only being used on some summer weekends. After trying this formula with two conventional sailboats, it has just started to commercialize the first electric one, with a price of 800 euros per month and moored in Sitges.
Beyond electrification, one of the surprises this year at the Nautical Show is the aquatic version of a Fiat 500. Some may have been scared when they saw a red model of this popular Italian car moving through the waters of the Moll d'Espanya, already imagining the worst but failing in the analysis. As if driving on the road, the boat is designed to move through the aquatic habitat and do so with ease thanks to a gasoline engine. A steering wheel-shaped rudder marks its direction, while a box with three gears ---forward, neutral and reverse--- makes it move. The bodywork has been imitated, including the rearview mirrors and lights, and even decorating the sides with handles. But, in the lower part, the deception is revealed, with a hull that allows its maritime version.
The aquatic Fiat 500 is a limited edition conceived by the Italian shipyard Car off Shore and distributed in Catalonia by Prodrive. The price is 70,000 euros and it is aimed at businesses that want to promote themselves, such as an Ibiza nightclub that has used it this summer, or that want to rent it out, but also to individuals. It does not require any qualification. After trying with the Fiat 500s, they will also adapt its older brother, the Abarths.
The aquatic Fiat 500 is a limited edition conceived by the Italian shipyard Car off Shore and distributed in Catalonia by ProdriveOther brands participating in the show are Fountaine Pajot, Lagoon, Yamaha or Zodiac. The Galician one never failsRodman, preparing for its 50th anniversary in 2024 and having always attended the Barcelona event. From its shipyards in the Vigo estuary, they bring the models they exhibit at the Nautical by road until they reach Port Vell, where they disembark them. Among the exhibitors, the new brand also sneaks inMiM Ocean, driven by soccer player Leo Messi, with his profile drawn on the sails of these luxury catamarans, and thePolytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC). Its shipBarcelona it makes a gap among exclusive sailboats. It is the one used by students of degrees such as Marine Technologies and Naval Systems and Technology Engineering to do a little practice among a lot of theory, taking excursions while learning to set sails or tie knots.
What could not be seen at this Boat Show is the announced premiere of one of the main novelties of the America's Cup Experience, the America's Cup dissemination center located in the old Imax. After various delays, the space expected to inaugurate this weekend the simulators of the boats that the regatta teams will use on the Barcelona coast next year, with a price of 8 euros that must be added to the 15 euros of the general admission. We will have to wait a few more weeks for the launch of one of the main attractions to understand what this competition, so much talked about these days at the show, consists of.
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