Antigua Charter Show 2019 draws to a close

By Katia Damborsky 10 December 2019

Yesterday was the final day of the Antigua Charter Show, with the sound of this year's fleet blasting their horns at Falmouth Harbour marking the grand finale of the 58th annual yachting meet.

Between 4 - 9 December, close to fifty yachts have been on display across three show locations on the island of Antigua for the industry-only yachting event.

Over the last five days, brokers and other industry professionals have been able to familiarise themselves with this year's fleet through yacht tours, micro charters and meetings with the captains and crew.

The 2019 edition has been hailed a success. While the lineup is comparatively smaller than last year, this year's fleet was the youngest in the show's history.

This marks a promising trend that we can hope to see replicated in future editions of the show, and provides plenty of new and young yachts for attendees to enjoy.

According to our intelligence data, the average weekly cost to charter the yachts in the show comes in at $272,000, which reflects an overall upward trend that’s in keeping with other yacht shows. There’s only one edition of the Antigua Show which tops the 2019 figure, and that’s last year's average price of $306,000.

If you'd like to get more insight into the facts and figures of the Antigua Charter Show 2019, you can refer to our article; An insider’s insight into the key facts and statistics at the 2019 Antigua Charter Show.

The hotly-anticipated chef's contest was back again this year, with 25 chefs battling it out to be crowned the victor. In the end it was Chef Dylan Reece of Feadship's 60m/198ft motor yacht Rock.It who took home the gold in the 160ft and over category, with Chef Sabi Edelmann of 66m/217ft charter yacht OKTO coming in second place.

There was plenty to see on the docks this year, with the 86m/282ft sailing yacht AquiJo drawing in plenty of attention among show-goers. The 2019 Antigua Charter Show marks her worldwide boat show debut, giving the wider industry their first proper look inside this highly private, and yet highly popular, charter yacht. As well as ample alfresco deck space, she features turquoise interior accents and coloured lighting panels throughout.

While she may be a regular yacht show attendee, the 90m/296ft motor yacht ‘Phoenix 2' was also generating buzz in Falmouth Harbour. Holding the crown for the largest yacht in the show, the Lurssen build wowed with her art-deco inspired interiors and iconic phoenix masthead.