The South Atlantic Race (formerly the Cape-to-Rio) is a

yacht race Yacht racing is a Sailing (sport), sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marke ...

from

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

to various destinations in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. This has been primarily

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, although

Punta del Este Punta del Este () is a seaside city and peninsula on the Atlantic Coast in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. Starting as a small town, Punta del Este later became internationally known as a resort for the Latin and North American j ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, and

Salvador, Brazil Salvador (English: ''Savior'') is a Brazilian municipality and capital city of the state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognized throughout the country and internationally for its cuisine ...

, have all been chosen.

History

Following the success of

Bruce Dalling Bruce Tweeddale Dalling (16 August 1938 – 7 July 2008) was a Springbok South African yachtsman, also advocate and farmer, best known for taking second place on elapsed time and first on corrected time for the monohull award in the 1968 Observ ...

and the yacht Voortrekker in the 1968

Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Race The Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race (STAR) is an east-to-west yacht race across the North Atlantic. When inaugurated in 1960, it was the first single-handed ocean yacht race; it is run from Plymouth in England to Newport, Rhode Island in th ...

, Admiral

Hugo Biermann Hugo Hendrik Biermann, (6 August 1916 – 27 March 2012) was a senior officer in the South African Navy. He served as Chief of the Navy from 1952 to 1972 and Chief of the South African Defence Force from 1972 until 1976, the only naval offic ...

then chairman of the Springbok Ocean Racing Trust, suggested that South Africa hosted an ocean race of its own. The South African Ocean Racing Trust (as the SAORT became known) selected the Iate Clube do Rio de Janeiro, who were willing to co-operate in the organising of the race and the race would be known as the Cape to Rio. The first race was organised for 1971, with the organisers anticipating at most 15 entries into the race. However the race attracted a large amount of interest and 58 boats entered the 1971 race. Ocean Spirit won the first race on 8 February, after 23 days and 42 minutes. The 11th race was held to Salvador in 2006. The 2009 race was held to

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

. The 12th edition was back to the original course, Cape to Rio, and was won on handicap by Gerry Hegie on the yacht City of Cape Town. 17 days 12 minutes. The 75 ft “Zephyrus IV” holds the record for the race to Salvador, at 12 days 16 hours 49 minutes and 41 seconds. The VOR70 Maserati of Giovanni Soldini set a new record for the race original course (Cape to Rio) in the 2014 race at 10 days, 11 hours, 29 minutes and 57 seconds This was however significantly improved in the 2020 race, when the trimaran LoveWater, sponsored by JSE listed HomeChoice International Ltd and skippered by Capetonian Craig Sutherland took line honors in 7 days, 20 hours, 24 minutes and 44 seconds. The crew was made up of six South Africans, a Frenchman and a Brit.

The Race

This race is the longest continent-to-continent yacht race in the southern hemisphere. The total length of the race is around across the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. After leaving Cape Town, participants head north-west towards the island of

Ilha Trindade Trindade and Martim Vaz ( pt, Trindade e Martim Vaz, ) is an archipelago located in the South Atlantic Ocean about east of the coast of the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo, of which it forms a part. The archipelago has a total area of and a ...

, and south-west from there towards South America. As they near the coast, skippers need to decide whether to take the longer route with stronger winds, or a more direct route with the chance for lighter winds. Prizes are awarded to the first competitor across the line, new records being set, as well as the first three across the line in 3 handicap classes.

References

External links

Cape to Rio 2017

South Atlantic Race website
Recurring events established in 1971 Transatlantic sailing competitions Sport in Cape Town 1971 establishments in South Africa {{race-sports-stub