Cannes Yachting Festival week usually runs on launches, sea trials and signed contracts. On one evening, the industry put all of that on hold, dressed for dinner and gave its full attention to something else.
The second Mercy Ships Yachting Day Gala brought more than 240 figures from across the superyacht world to the Carlton Cannes. Already having earned a place in the festival’s calendar, it is one of the few nights when the sector’s competitive energy has a single aim: giving those in need a chance at a transformed life.
Together, the room raised $1.13 million. The funds came from ticket sales, private gifts, partners who matched donations, a live auction, and a paddle raise—all dedicated to surgeries aboard the hospital ships Global Mercy and Africa Mercy. These vessels deliver free surgery and medical training across sub-Saharan Africa.
Our industry knows how to mobilise
Don and Deyon Stephens founded Mercy Ships in 1978 on the idea of bringing a fully equipped surgical hospital to coastal communities that would otherwise have no access to one. For patients in some of the world’s poorest countries, the ships are the difference between a lifetime of waiting and a treatment that changes everything.
The gala is yachting’s own way of joining that mission, and the idea came from inside the industry. Bob Allen, founder of Robert Allen Law and a respected name in yacht law, conceived the evening and organises it.
Yachting Day builds on Mercy Ships’ Cargo Day Initiative, which has shown how readily a maritime community will unite behind a humanitarian cause. Allen understood that yachting’s greatest asset is its web of relationships, a network where trust and personal ties can become real, measurable help.
His account of the night’s total shows how it worked, “More than $1.1 million raised. Half came from the gala and the auction, and the other half was matched by our incredible anonymous donor who believed in the cause.”
That quiet half matters. Some of the most generous people behind the evening never appeared on the stage and have no wish to. They gave because they believe in the work.
The moment the room moved
The heart of the evening was the live auction, run by auctioneer Marcello di Marco, Senior Watch Specialist at Phillips. His own description of the night gives the clearest picture of the room:
“I was deeply struck by the involvement and generosity of the guests. The atmosphere was simply electrifying throughout the auction, with bids called out loud, friendly rivalries even at the same table, and paddles raised from every corner of the room. I have rarely seen such meaningful engagement at a charity auction, a testament to how important Mercy Ships’ mission is.”
Earlier, a film introduced by Bryce Wagner had put guests face to face with the people they were there to help. Vivika Pascoli and Romina Bompani hosted, Bob Allen and Tim Morley opened the evening, and the Gypsy Queens provided the music. Carl-Gustav Svanström, vice chair of Mercy Ships Global, closed the night with gratefulness. He told the guests that what they had given would reach well beyond the walls of the Carlton, touching people in distant places who will never know their names but whose lives will be different because of them.
The partners who stood behind it
A group of respected names in the industry backed the evening: Lürssen Yachts, Azimut Benetti, Ferretti Group, Hill Robinson, Cantiere delle Marche, Luxury Yacht Group, Morley Yachts and Palumbo Superyachts. They did more than lend their names to the occasion. Each came to the room and put something of its own on the auction block, and some of the lots were unlike anything a gala crowd expects to bid on. Their gifts went to the auction, where the paddles turned generosity into surgeries.
Those gifts reflect how this industry already works. A yacht exists because many people work together. Designers, builders, crews, brokers, lawyers and suppliers are each essential, and none could deliver a yacht alone. The same logic held at the Carlton that evening. No one in that room could fund a hospital ship alone, yet together, in a single evening, they changed what is possible for people thousands of miles away.
So the industry doesn’t have to wonder whether it can make a difference. In Cannes, it just did.
About the author
Rebecca Gabbi is Vice President of Lexden Luxe, CX advisory boutique to UHNW brands.
Photo credits
© Mirka Formanova
© Keykhosro Djahanbani
