The Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show is the biggest on-water show in the southern hemisphere, and it happens on our doorstep. The 38th show runs Thursday 20 to Sunday 23 May 2027 at Sanctuary Cove on Hope Island. If you own a motor yacht on the Gold Coast, or you are about to, it is the four days a year when every builder, broker, engine dealer and trade is in one place. Here is what last year looked like, how to plan a day that is worth the ticket, and how buying at the show really works.
Key facts — SCIBS 2027
- Dates — 20 to 23 May 2027, Thursday to Sunday, 9am to 5pm each day
- Where — Sanctuary Cove Marina, Masthead Way, Hope Island, about 45 minutes south of Brisbane
- Tickets — online only, no gate sales; 2026 adults were $31.50 early and $42 later, under-16s free
- Scale in 2026 — 41,000 visitors, 300-plus exhibitors, 800-plus boats, 70-plus launches, over $400 million in sales and orders
- Getting there — no public parking on site; park-and-ride coaches, shuttle from Helensvale station, ferry from Hope Harbour
- Best days — Thursday and Friday if you want time aboard; weekends fill from about 11am
What last year’s show looked like
The 2026 show sold out its exhibition space and its hospitality zones, and put 300-plus exhibitors and more than 800 boats on a marina that had just been expanded to 346 berths for the event. Griffith University put exhibitor sales and orders above $400 million, with 9,383 interstate and overseas visitors from 28 countries and a quarter of visitors extending their stay in Queensland.
For a motor-yacht buyer, the interesting part was the water. Horizon brought a $100 million fleet to Pier G, including the global debut of the ES88. Riviera ran twelve yachts from 39 to 78 ft down the Coomera River in convoy the Tuesday before, headlined by the world premiere of the 6200 Sport Yacht. Maritimo launched the S50 Sedan and two new Caribbeans and had 1,400 people register to inspect. Princess brought seven boats, its largest showing in the southern hemisphere, and Sunseeker, Palm Beach, Grand Banks, Whitehaven, Axopar and Sirena all had premieres. Sailfish sold more than $2 million of catamarans and openly listed a $3.4 million boat at a $700,000 show discount, which tells you show pricing is real.
The 2025 show, for comparison, drew 45,865 visitors and 824 boats, 422 of them on the water, with 92 launches. The show has run every year since 1989, when Sanctuary Cove was four years old and the event was called the Queensland International Boat Show.
What is actually there
- The Marina. Superyachts, production motor yachts, sailing yachts and multihulls up to 165 ft, on a marina that now has 63 superyacht-capable berths. This is where a 40 to 90 ft buyer spends the day.
- The Pavilion and Marina Village streets. Trailer boats, outboards, tenders, jet skis and engines, plus the booths at the entrance.
- The Sports, Leisure and Fishing Precinct. Twenty thousand square metres of gear, demos and masterclasses, with a fishing programme running 10am to 3.30pm.
- Sea Trial Zone, C Pier. Test rides on smaller powerboats and tenders. Larger yachts are trialled by arrangement with the dealer.
- Talks and seminars on ownership, safety and navigation, and Riviera’s own Owners’ Festival of Boating with more than 30 sessions during show week.
- Lagoon Beach Club. The hospitality precinct, Thursday to Saturday, from a $129 brunch to a $290 full day, admission included.
- The trades. Gold Coast City Marina and The Boat Works both exhibit with their on-site trade partners, and The Boat Works runs an out-of-water used-boat show at Coomera during the same week, twenty minutes away by car.
Planning a day that is worth it
- Book tickets online before you go. There is no box office at the gate. Under-16s are free.
- Pick Thursday or Friday if you are serious. Same boats, same hours, half the crowd. Save the weekend for the family.
- Book appointments a week out. Email the dealers for the two or three boats you actually want to see and ask for a time aboard. Boats with a queue do not open their engine rooms for walk-ups.
- Mark up the map. The marina is bigger than it looks. Start on the water in the morning, land displays after lunch.
- Dress for boarding. Slip-on shoes with grip, because shoes come off on every boat, plus a hat, sunscreen and water. There is little shade on the piers.
- Photograph the spec and price board on every boat you step aboard. By 3pm they blur together.
- Ask to open the engine room on any boat you are considering. How easy that is to do tells you how easy she will be to own.
- Leave the Coomera River clear. The marina is closed to visiting boats during the show. Come by road or ferry.
Buying at the show
Show incentives come from the builder to the dealer, and they are usually real: a sharper price, a service or accessories package, or a delivery slot. Three things to hold onto.
- You are not obliged to sign at the show. Ask what the price is the following week. Compare dealers on the day; come back tomorrow.
- Get finance and insurance pre-approved before you go. Then a deposit is a decision, not a scramble.
- The show does not replace the survey and the sea trial. A deposit that is refundable subject to survey and sea trial is normal. A deposit that is not, is not.
Before the deposit, get answers to the questions that decide what she costs to own, not just what she costs to buy: the engine and generator service intervals and what the 1,000-hour service involves, the antifoul interval and where she will be lifted, what the berth will cost, and whether the builder’s warranty work happens here or in Sydney. Our cost-of-ownership guide has the Gold Coast numbers, and our marinas guide has the berths.
Worth knowing
The two days before the show, the Australian marine industry holds its ASMEX conference on the Gold Coast, and the yards at Coomera are at their busiest in the weeks leading in. If your own boat needs a haul-out around May, book it for March or April, or for June when the yards run their winter specials.
What we did at the show in 2026
Marine HQ spent the four days on the docks with a camera and a question list rather than a stand. We called it Dock Talk: short interviews with three groups of people, for our Instagram and for us.
- Owners. What is the hardest part of owning a boat, do you use her as much as you would like, who looks after her when you are not aboard, and, the one everyone laughed at first, what is your honest annual running cost.
- People in the market. First boat or not, what is the biggest concern about taking the leap, what size are you looking at and has that changed since you started shopping, and have you thought about who will manage her when you are not using her.
- The trades and brokers. The one question every buyer should ask but never does, the biggest mistake first-time buyers make, the true annual cost, and the one piece of electronics a new owner should invest in first. The interview we will remember was with Audrey Greenwood of Flagship International Yacht Brokers, Australia’s first female yacht broker, who founded her own brokerage in Noosa at 25 in the late 1980s and now leads Flagship’s Queensland office at Gold Coast City Marina, on how she got into the industry and what she tells buyers now.
Two of our thirteen-year-olds ran a junior reporter edition, which produced better answers than the adults’ questions did. Several of the answers turned into the guides on this site: the cost figures, the marina comparison and the haul-out checklist came straight from what owners on the docks said they wished someone had told them. We will be back in 2027 with the same camera and a longer list.
What we do
If you are going to the show to buy, we will come with you and look at the boat the way a manager does: engine room access, service history, running gear, systems, and what she will cost to keep here on the Gold Coast. If you are going as an owner, we will meet you on the docks. Call 0439 748 387 or email yachtsupport@marinehq.com.au, and follow @marinehq for Dock Talk.