Virgin Islands Boating Expo focuses on hands-on catamaran access

The best part of VIBE was not the size of the crowd or the flash of the display. It was the setting: at IGY’s Yacht Haven Grande Marina in St. Thomas, buyers could walk the docks, step aboard and, in some cases, test sail yachts directly from the show berth into Caribbean cruising grounds.

That practical format defined the third annual Virgin Islands Boating Expo, which ran May 14 to 16 in the U.S. Virgin Islands and was organized by the Virgin Islands Professional Charter Association. VIPCA has long pitched the show as a destination boat expo built around quality rather than quantity, and that made it especially relevant for catamaran shoppers who need to see layouts, helm visibility, cockpit flow and charter-ready systems in the kind of water where these boats actually work.

For multihull readers, the value was immediate. VIBE is not a landlocked hall show where boats are stacked behind barriers. The expo took place at Yacht Haven Grande, which the show describes as a four-time winner of the Yacht Harbour Association’s Superyacht Marina of the Year, and the marina’s location put attendees in the middle of world-class cruising territory. That meant brokers, owners and families could compare sail and power yachts with the Virgin Islands cruising life in mind, not as an abstract brochure exercise.

VIPCA says the U.S. Virgin Islands is the top destination for professional crewed yacht charter, and that charter focus ran through the event. The 2025 edition drew hundreds of residents and visitors to the docks, with nearly 100 people on the first day alone and some attendees traveling in from Texas, Pennsylvania and Florida. Brands including Axopar, Bali, Azimut, Cigarette Racing, Fountaine Pajot, Jeanneau, Lagoon, Grady-White, Nor-Tech and Tiara helped show why the expo has become a destination stop for people weighing real-world boat choices.

VIBE also carried a workforce message this year. VIPCA says the Virgin Islands marine industry still faces shortages of diesel mechanics, marine electricians and fiberglass technicians, so the expo added a Charting the Future gala on May 16 at Muse in Charlotte Amalie. Proceeds supported the Marine Rebuild Fund and VIPCA’s Marine Apprenticeship Program, which VIPCA says has graduated 89 students who have gone on to captain’s licenses, marine certifications, jobs across the territory and, in some cases, military service.

For catamaran cruisers, that is the point of VIBE. It places the boats, the people who sell and service them, and the cruising grounds they are built for in the same harbor, so the conversation stays grounded in how a cat will actually be used in the Virgin Islands.