PORT VAUBAN

 

The Antibes Yacht Show is proud to take place in the biggest pleasure harbour in the Mediterranean, PORT VAUBAN in ANTIBES. The ramparts, surrounding a part of the Port Vauban, and the Fort Carré on the other side, add to the charm of this beautiful site.

From 2007, when the Antibes Yacht Show was born, Camille Rayon accepted to be the honorary President of the Mediterranean’s only spring boat show.

It is a great honour to have Mr Rayon supporting the show. Without him, the Port Vauban and many others harbours in the Mediterranean wouldn’t be as they are today.

He is a real pioneer in the creation of most of the ports in the region. Mr Rayon recognised, at a time when pleasure cruising was in its infancy, that the organisation and facilities in the ports were often lacking or insufficient.

The project to have Port Vauban (which is a port on public land) totally financed by individuals in exchange for the right to moor their yacht for a few dozen years seemed unthinkable and undoable at the time.

Mr Rayon was already dreaming of this project when he was in the French Resistance. He managed to fulfil it thanks to his great determination and the experience he’d acquired as a decision maker whilst working at General De Gaulle’s side.

He had to navigate through the bureaucracy of about thirty different ministries; however, his vision was too big and the project counted too much for him to get discouraged.

Port Vauban was such a big success that Mr Rayon applied the same formula to other ports in the region and created 27 more marinas that can welcome vessels of 50 meters or more.