The 13 Best Yachts at the 2024 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show
Inspira
While back-to-back hurricanes Helene and Milton pummeled Florida’s west coast in recent weeks, Fort Lauderdale on the east side escaped unscathed. Which means that this year’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (FLIBS) will kick off its five-day run starting Wednesday, October 30.
Celebrating its 65th anniversary, the world’s largest in-water boating extravaganza will again be located in seven venues, showcasing more than 1,300 new boats, more than 20 yachts over 165 feet, along with the many hundreds of marine products and services. Around 100,000 visitors and 1,000 exhibitors are expected to attend.
The show also features a new-look Superyacht Village centered around the re-opening of the $1 billion Pier Sixty-Six complex with its landmark, spire-topped tower. The complex is on 32 waterfront acres along the Intracoastal Waterway, with a renovated 325-room hotel, luxury condos, high-end restaurants, and, of course, miles of show docks.
The focus, though, remains on boats, with everything from Jet Skis to Superyachts. Here are 13 showstoppers you don’t want to miss.
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Abeking & Rasmussen ‘Amaryllis’
Image Credit: Burgess Yachts With little likelihood of Jeff Bezos’s 410-foot giga sailing yacht Koru making a last-minute FLIBS appearance, this year’s star of the show will be the 257-foot, blue-hulled Amaryllis. British studio Reymond Langton Design mapped out the vessel, which was built by Abeking & Rasmussen in 2011. The sailing yacht is powered by two 2,000 hp Caterpillars that deliver a top speed of 16.5 knots and a 5,000-nautical-mile range. Inside are six cabins for 12 guests, including a sprawling owner’s deck with private terrace. The yacht’s lavish, and somewhat polarizing interior, is said to have been inspired by the Belle Epoque, Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods. Amaryllis is listed with Burgess with a $97 million asking price.
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Ocean Alexander 28L Legend
Image Credit: Ocean Alexander After the visual drama of Ocean Alexander’s flagship 35P Puro, which was unveiled at last spring’s Palm Beach boat show, the Taiwanese builder is showing off its softer, more conservative side at FLIBS. Its 95-foot 28L is the newest addition to OA’s popular Legend series and the latest entry to the yard’s eight-model range. Designed inside and out by Evan K. Marshall, this sky-lounge pocket superyacht joins its larger sisterships, the 32L and 37L, to provide buyers with a key, sub-100-foot offering. Distinguished by its signature Legend-series raked bow, low freeboard, and upright bow windows, it has the feel of what Marshall calls “a proper yacht.” Inside, a standout feature is the forward dining room that delivers panoramic ocean views on three sides. Power for the new 28L comes from a pair of 1,600 hp MTU V-10 diesels.
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Pearl 82
Image Credit: Pearl Yachts U.K.-based Pearl Yachts likes to describe its new 82-footer as “the most compact superyacht on the market.” That could be a fair comment judging by the cavernous interior and exterior spaces of this glass-encased, raised-pilothouse, fast cruiser. Hull No. 1 had its global reveal at the recent Cannes Yachting Festival, while the second hull was shipped across the Atlantic for its U.S. debut at FLIBS. The sleek, Manhattan-apartment-style interior is by residential interior designer Kelly Hoppen, with an exterior by U.K. naval architect Bill Dixon. Like other Pearls, the 82 is all about space, with a huge flybridge up top, multiple dining areas, and even a hot tub. With a choice of three MAN V-12 engines, ranging from 1,650 to 2,000 hp, the most-powerful version can give a top speed of 32 knots.
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Pardo GT75
Image Credit: Pardo Yachts Boutique Italian sports yacht builder Cantiere del Pardo is launching its range-topping GT75 into the U.S. market at FLIBS, following its Cannes global reveal last September. Evolved from the GT52 and GT65 models, this new 75-footer shares its ax-bowed hull with Pardo’s 75 T-Top open dayboat. Italian studio Nauta Design has given the new yacht a dramatic, glass-filled pilothouse with a reverse-angle windshield and oversized open bow for lounging and entertaining. Sun-worshipping is also the order of the day with the 75’s huge aft deck, which can be expanded courtesy of dropdown side terraces. New owners can choose from two-, three- or four-cabin layouts, with each featuring a full-width amidships owner’s suite. Engine choices come from the Volvo Penta IPS range, with triple 800 hp IPS 1050s as standard.
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Icon Yachts ‘Loon’
Image Credit: Courtesy IYC For Instagram and YouTube fans of the social-media-savvy superyacht Loon, FLIBS will offer the chance to get up close and personal with this 221-foot Dutch-built megayacht. Yacht brokers IYC are showcasing the yacht in Lauderdale to promote its already booming charter business. Weekly rates start at $550,000. This is the yacht with more than 145,000 Instagram followers and 122,000 YouTube subscribers fed by Loon‘s full-time, onboard content creator. Built in 2010 by Icon Yachts as Icon, the vessel was extensively refitted in 2020. Purchased in 2023, reportedly by U.S. businessman and owner of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, Craig Leipold, it was christened Loon after the loon birds at his Minnesota lake house. The yacht can accommodate 12 guests in seven luxurious cabins that includes a positively palatial two-level owner’s suite. Oh, and the boat is for sale through IYC for $47.5 million.
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‘Amadeus’
Image Credit: Lürssen It’s hard to believe that this blue-hulled beauty was built 55 years ago as a salty ocean research vessel by German shipbuilder Neue Jadewerft, now part of Lürssen Group. Converted to a luxurious expedition yacht by Taiwan’s Jade Yachts in 2007, the 229-foot Amadeus is fresh out of a major refit and listed with Burgess for $52.7 million. A multiple world-girder, the yacht has an astonishing range of over 9,000 nautical miles at 11.5 knots and can reach a top speed of 13.5 knots. The refreshed interior by Nice-based Francois Zuretti is dominated Norwegian birch burl paneling and marble floors. Standout features include a 14-seat cinema, full-beam owner’s suite, well-equipped gym, and twin forward garages for its two jet tenders.
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Sialia 57 Weekender
Image Credit: Sialia Yachts The current crop of electric sportboats tend to be on the smaller side, with most in the 20- to 30-foot range. Polish start-up Sialia Yachts is changing that with a stylish new carbon-fiber-hulled 57-foot Sialia 57 Weekender. While very much in the development stage, the new builder is showcasing the first hull at FLIBS, along with its U.S. distributor Yacht Sales International. The cruiser, powered by twin electric motors juiced by a 350kWh Sialia-developed lithium-ion battery pack, has a range of 40 nautical miles at 8 knots, 16 miles at 16 knots, and 12 miles at its 25-knot top speed, the company claims. It also plans to offer 700 kWh and 1,000 kWh battery packs to considerably increase range. For potential owners with range anxiety, the design can accommodate a diesel generator to get you home if the batteries run out.
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Aquila 50
Image Credit: Aquila Yachts A 52-foot, twin-hulled power cat with a single-level, full-beam primary suite with a walk-in closet? Impressive. That’s one of the cool features of the Aquila 50 making its world debut at FLIBS. Successor to the popular Aquila 48, the all-new 50 gets a fresh, explorer-style look with taller hull sides featuring bow-to-stern dark-tinted glass, and a new superstructure with slim forward glass. The hull has wave-piercing bulbs on each bow to provide lift, add speed, and increase fuel efficiency. With standard 480 hp Volvo D6 diesels, top speed is 22 knots. Up top, the much-enlarged flybridge includes an oversize outdoor kitchen, plus a hardtop filled with solar panels. In addition to the full-beam primary, belowdecks are two spacious ensuite cabins in each hull, with a bonus room for twin bunks or storage.
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Riviera 6800 Sport Yacht
Image Credit: Riviera Yachts Australian builder Riviera has a new flagship for its Sport Yacht range, the 72-foot Riviera 6800 Platinum Edition. While the yacht debuted in Australia in April—to coincide with the launch of the 6,000th Riviera model—its first North American airing is at FLIBS, as part of an 11-yacht display. Designed by Riviera’s in-house team in conjunction with superyacht designer Luca Vallebona, the 6800 is distinguished by its stretched, opening-roof hardtop that flows almost all the way back to the aft deck. Oversize salon windows and full-length hull windows flood the interior spaces with light, while a large opening glass roof over the helm adds to the yacht’s airy feel. Buyers get a choice of three or four-stateroom layouts, including an owner’s suite that sprawls across the yacht’s full 18-foot beam. Twin 1,000 hp Volvo Penta D13s with IPS drives deliver a top speed of up to 33 knots.
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Viking 74
Image Credit: Viking Yachts One of the most successful sportfishing battlewagons ever built was the Viking 72, a 45-knot speed demon that, over the years, saw an impressive 75 examples built and sold. The New Jersey yard is planning to build on the success of the 72 with the brand-new Viking 74 making its world debut at FLIBS. The latest model has a new hull design featuring optimized strakes and chines for greater lift and spray deflection, plus stronger, lighter hull construction. It can be fitted with either standard 1,550 hp MANs or optional twin 2,635 hp MTU V-16 M96L diesels. One of its key features is the redesigned fishing cockpit. It’s 10 inches longer than the 72’s, encompassing 216 square feet. The New Jersey builder will also show the high-luxury Viking 82 launched this summer to mark the company’s 60th anniversary.
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Eclipse 505
Image Credit: Two Oceans Making its global debut at FLIBS is the elegant new 50-foot Eclipse 505 outboard-powered express cruiser from South Africa’s Two Oceans Marine Manufacturing and HMY Yacht Sales. Riding on Florida naval architect Michael Peters’s patented Stepped Vee Ventilated Tunnel hull design, the 505 promises reduced drag for swifter acceleration and a 50-knot top speed, coupled with a smooth, wave-cleaving ride. The hull itself was designed around Mercury’s 600 hp Mercury Verado V-12 outboard. Buyers will have the choice of a two- or three-motor configuration. But it’s the Eclipse 505’s mix of head-turning, Maine-lobster-boat exterior style coupled with a high-luxury, two-stateroom interior that should have the most dock appeal. Want more space? At FLIBS ’25, Two Oceans and HMY plan to debut a 60-foot three-stateroom version, the Eclipse 605.
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Heesen ‘ELA’
Image Credit: Heesen Yachts The concept is simple: Stick to one, ultra-modern exterior design, offer customers flexibility in interior design, and build it fast. That’s Dutch yard Heesen’s business model with its sleek 163-foot 50M FDHF lightweight-aluminum superyacht series. The yard is using FLIBS to showcase one of its most recent FDHF builds, the 2021 ELA. Featuring an exterior by Omega and a hull design by Van Oossanen, this Heesen claims to have the most efficient hull in its class. It has an impressive top speed of 19.5 knots from twin 1,450 hp MTU V12 2000 diesels. Omega’s glass-filled superstructure design floods the main deck with light, enhancing the contemporary interior by Italian designer Cristiano Gatto. The third of three FDHF models built—the fourth is due early next year. ELA will also be at FLIBS looking for a new owner, with an asking price with Edmiston of $42.4 million.
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Feadship ‘Amanti’
Image Credit: Galati Yachts Aging gracefully describes this classic, elegant, and painstakingly-maintained 170-foot Feadship superyacht Amanti. Fresh from the latest refit, the yacht is being showcased at FLIBS by broker Galati Yachts with a $26.8 million asking price. Built in 2003 by Feadship from a design by De Voogt Naval Architects, Amanti has had only two owners and still boasts her original captain. With over 21,000 hours on the twin 1,500 hp Caterpillar diesels, the vessel has cruised the world at a 12-knot cruise speed, aided by 27,288-gallon fuel tanks, which give a 4,400-mile transatlantic range. The interior is the work of British designer Donald Starkey and offers accommodation for up to 13 guests in seven traditionally decorated cabins.
