The Best in Show at the 60th annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show sold on the five-day event’s final day.
The Majesty 140, a tri-deck superyacht made in Dubai, sold for about $20 million, said Greg Terraglio, president of Sovereign Marine Group of Stuart.
The yacht boasts extensive side windows, an owner’s stateroom, private extendable balcony and Jacuzzi tub. It includes a garage for water sports equipment, such as Jet Skis.
“It was Majesty’s debut in the United States,” Terraglio said. The Best in Show was determined by NBC Sports.
It was only half of the size of the biggest yachts at the show. The 311-foot Madsummer from Lürssen in Germany debuted there.
The brand new 180-foot Vida, which emerged from a Dutch shipyard last summer, was on display but not for sale. The owner is a “high-profile” Fort Lauderdale resident, said Thom Conboy, director of sales for North America, Bahamas and Caribbean for Heesen Yachts of the Netherlands.
At Superyacht Village, the newly created venue south of 17th Street Causeway across from the Pier Sixty-Six Hotel and Marina, large numbers of wealthy Americans, Canadians and Mexicans toured the pavilions, said Andrew Doole, president of U.S. Boat Shows for the organizer Informa Global Exhibitions.
Brokers said they welcomed developers, auto dealers, hoteliers, technology millionaires and hedge fund operators.
“The crowds weren’t there but everybody who came down there was what we were looking for,” Conboy said.
Official attendance figures won’t be available until later this week. Organizers had expected to draw 110,000 people.
“I’ve been working the Fort Lauderdale boat show since 1983,” said George Jousma president for Italian Yacht Group in Fort Lauderdale. “It is a bit of a trendsetter for what the [boat show] season is going to be like, and traffic-wise we were on a par with last year. I was happy with the attendance.”
BY DAVID LYONS FOR SUN-SENTINEL.
Photos: The Majesty 140 by Majesty Yachts USA is under contract for sale after appearing at the 2019 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show. (Daniel Grant / Courtesy)