Polboat Yachting Festival reaches new heights

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The 2022 Polboat Yachting Festival at Marina Yacht Park in Gdynia

This year’s Polboat Yachting Festival featured about 100 yachts and boats from Polish shipyards and international builders, as well as 20,000 visitors over the four days, according to organiser Polboat (Polish Chamber of Marine Industry and Water Sports).

Held at Marina Yacht Park in Gdynia, one of Poland’s most modern marinas, the event featured over a dozen debuts and several world premieres including the Galeon 375 GTO, the second model in the new GTO line that debuted with the 325 GTO in 2021. Galeon showed seven models including the 325 GTO, 400 Fly, 425 HTS, 500 Fly, 510 Sky and 680 Fly.

A 60 Sunreef Power hosted the opening ceremony

A year after a Sunreef 80 sailing catamaran played the same role, a 60 Sunreef Power hosted the opening ceremony, where VIPs included Polboat President Sebastian Nietupski, Polish Sailing Association President Tomasz Chamera, Krzysztof Drynda, President of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency, and Marcin Mazurek, President of the Management Board of the Polish Holding Real Estate.

Other VIPs included Piotr Przednowek, Vice-President of PHN; Tomasz Wencel, Vice-President of the Polish Motorboat and Water Skiing Association; Bogusław Witkowski, President of the Pomeranian District Sailing Association; Marta Chełkowska, Director of the Tourism Department of the Marshal’s Office of the Pomorskie District; Katarzyna Stanulewicz, President of Dalmor SA; and Wioletta Magin, Managing Director of DALMOR Management.

Parker Poland showed four models, Cobrey showed three including its 50 Fly, Vulcan Yachts presented its JP 47, Balt debuted its flagship 37 Grand, while the Northman 1200 was among other boats on show.

International brands on show included Windy, Flipper, Nimbus, Malibu, Alfastreet, Bayliner, Rand or Saxdor, with most vessels produced in part or whole in Poland. Emerging Polish brands included D-Boats, Futuro Boats, Nautic Yachts, Lamdo Yachts and VTS Boats.

There were over a dozen sailing yachts including two Bavaria models, four each by Viko and Hanse, a Maxus 35, Dehler 42 and a Jacht2020 from the Pro Air shipyard.

Houseboats were again very popular, with models including the Nomadream 1200 Double Decker and exhibits by La Mare, the biggest Polish producer.

This year’s exhibition also offered visitors a variety of water toys including SeaDoo and Kawasaki water scooters, RIBs from Sportis, Airslide hovercraft, as well as Awake jetboards and Hobie kayaks presented by Passionautica.

Companies offering sailing and motorboat accessories, navigation equipment, designer clothing as well as financing and insurance offers for boats exhibited in the tent halls set up on the waterfront.

There were also motorhomes from Elcamp, Mercedes-Benz cars from BMG Goworowski, exclusive clothes from Tailors Club, sunglasses from Optyk Kochański and a special relaxation zone hosted by the Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Famous sailors in attendance included Captain Roman Paszke, Jurand Goszczyński, and social media stars Ania and Bartek Dawidowski of SailOceans.

During this year’s event, other important issues were also discussed, such as the development of vocational education for the yachting industry on the example of Saxdor Academy, investing in yachts, communication systems, ESG in business and the problem of ocean pollution.

Over the weekend, Polboat organized a special edition of the Grow Boating project #ZostanWodniakiem, offering free cruises on sailing and motor yachts.

As well as PHN Group, owner of the Marina Yacht Park, event partners included the City of Gdynia, the Polish Yachting Association, the Polish Motorboat and Water Skiing Association, Maritime Economy Forum, Polish Investment and Trade Agency, Mercedes-Benz BMG Goworowski, Tailors Club, Courtyard by Marriott, InterCars, Exide, Banglob, Taurus Sea Power, Sztorm Grupa, Pro Air-Jacht2020, and Pomorskie and Pomorska Regional Tourist Organization.