About the 21st edition of the Boat Show
boatica Cape Town is Africa's boating exhibition set against the backdrop of the beautiful Mother City. The event features manufacturers and buyers of luxury boats, accessories, and marine equipment, a once-in-a-lifetime Ultimate Yacht Experience, sophisticated exhibiting companies, live on-water activities, and a luxury lifestyle exhibition for a premium shopping experience.
From sailing competitions to SUP racing, dragon boat racing and test sails.
Date: 27 - 29 October 2023
Venue: V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
Buy your Tickets: Coming Soon
2022 Facts & Figures
The 20th edition of the Cape Town International Boat was held 28 - 23 October at the V&A waterfront. boatica previously known as the Cape Town International boat show brought together 5646 visitors, 86 exhibiting companies, over the 3-days and once in a lifetime Ultimate Yacht Experience on the Ocean Princess.
On Friday 28 October, Michael Dehn the Managing director of Messe Frankfurt alongside Alderman James Vos, the City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Growth officially opened the rebranded boat show. The show is now officially called boatica Cape Town. This exciting new name brings with it increased international exposure, added experiential elements and endless new exhibitor profiles ensuring the boating industry in Southern Africa is elevated to its true potential over the three show days.
We would like to thank all our sponsors and exhibitors who partnered with us to make the 2022 boatica Cape Town Show a success.
Interactive on water experiences
The 20th edition of the boatica Cape Town featured even more live demonstrations, from efoiling, SUP racing, the Ulrimate Yacht Experience boat cruise on the Ocean Princess, and a very energetic dragon boat race across the Marina.
Some magic was brought to the show when the eFoiling Cape Town school was run from the marina during the event. Giving visitors the opportunity to experience this new sensation! Instructors showed off their skills flying above the water, showing the freedom of flight. Efoils can reach a maximum speed of 55 kmph, have a range of 40km and a maximum duration of 2 hours. This interactive display was a highlight of the show.
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Dragon Boat racing is an energetic, colourful and exciting team sport with ancient Chinese cultural traditions. This year we had six teams participating including Mujaji - named after a dragon that is said to look like a great feathered serpent and lives on Table Mountain (Xhosa folklore), Amabelle Belles - part of an international movement of dragon boat racing among breast cancer survivors as well as the Paddlesnappers, Dragon Warriors amongst others.
The Great Optimist Race in conjunction with boatica Cape Town aimed at raising funds for disadvantaged children across the Western Cape set off on a tricky one-lap course through the V&A Waterfront in front of thousands of spectators. Competitors ranged from celebrities to captains of industry, and medical survivors, all of whom raced for glory in little optimist boats. Representing Ullman Sails was Ha
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Once again, boatica Cape Town 2022 hosted the Cape Radio Yachting Club and their Cape DF95 class radio controlled yachts. A fleet of 10 yachts raced in a series of regattas offering visitors young and old a wonderful spectacle in the Marina
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The Ultimate Yacht Experience was where visitors experienced a 2-hour luxury sail to Camps Bay and back on board a luxurious yacht, with snacks and refreshments available during the cruise.
About the organisers
Messe Frankfurt: Business model for global business
Messe Frankfurt is one of the world’s leading trade fair, congress and event organisers with their own exhibition grounds. For some 800 years, we have been bringing people together at our events, both in Frankfurt and throughout the world. Whether with our trade fairs, congresses or other events, with digital or analogue services – everything we do has always been focused on interaction between people. This is something that we have perfected throughout our long history.
With approximately 2,200 employees at 28 locations, we work virtually around the clock and around the globe to further the interests of our customers. Despite the very difficult conditions in 2021, some 1.4 million visitors (2019: 5.1 million) and more than 30,000 (2019: 99.246) exhibiting companies put their trust in the efficiency of our international network the quality of our events and the digital expertise of Messe Frankfurt.
Messe Frankfurt brings together future trends with new technologies, people with markets, and supply with demand. Where different perspectives and industry sectors come together, we create scope for new collaborations, projects and business models.
Messe Frankfurt South Africa
We are the proud organiser of the following events: South African Festival of Motoring, Automechanika Johannesburg, Futuroad Expo, AERO South Africa, Boatica Cape Town, Solar Power Africa, and Hobby-X.