when is the cape to rio yacht race

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50th anniversary of Cape2Rio Sailing Race date announced

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Cape to Rio Yacht Race 2023

Good Morning,

The Royal Cape Yacht Club and Iate Club Rio de Janiero have agreed to stage a running for the iconic Cape to Rio Race in 2023, the race will commence on 2 January 2023 from Cape Town South Africa and will be a dash across the South Atlantic Ocean of approximately 3300 mile. This race is not unlike the prestigious Transpac Race, skirting a dominant high pressure system and enjoying warm water champagne sailing a few days out of Cape Town.

We would welcome the members of your esteemed club  to consider entering the race, we are available to field any enquiries you may have about the race and draw your attention to the logistic solution in the presentation. Services from other global regions can also be provided.

Attached is a brochure of our race presentation, a video link is also available to preview the history of the race which goes back to 1971.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U0KZQAX1x_tCIki7TZ-0NvvpVqdfi5EY/view?usp=sharing

Should you wish to receive regular updates and information as we progress the preparations for 2023 please let us know and we shall add you to our list of possible entries.

Neil Gregory

Commodore Royal Cape Yacht Club &  Race Chairman

Hilary Ackermann

Sailing Events Manager

ROYAL CAPE YACHT CLUB

Tel 021  421  0000

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CAPE2RIO 2023 UPDATE

Update on the 2023 Cape to Rio entries, by Liesl King

The Cape2Rio 2023 committee is delighted to have seven confirmed entries 18 months from the start of the race. To date a further 12 enquiries have been received with interest coming from as far afield as New Zealand and Morocco.

“This is viewed as healthy, and we continue to push for more and more foreign entries. Please support the committee in promoting the race at every level”, said race director Anthony Spillebeen.

The confirmed entries include the newly launched monohull Black Pearl , a new IRC optimised water ballasted Botin56.  In Cape2Rio 2017  the team won overall Handicap honours and lifted the South Atlantic Race Trophy with an earlier Black Pearl.

The multihull Aventureiro 4 , an Outremer 51 belonging to Johan “Hans” Hutzler spearheaded the Brazilian entries, followed shortly thereafter by Marcio Lima’s Delta 465, which will be launched in 2022. Lima and his crew will be representing Clube dos Jangadeiros, located in Porto Alegre, South Brazil

The 1976 entrant Criloa , an Impala 35, is set to return for Cape2Rio 2023 with an all-female crew led by Carina Magri Seixas. Commissioned in 1973, Criloa will be celebrating her 50 th birthday in 2023 and this celebration has been part of the inspiration behind this entry.

Local entries include RCYC member Adrian Kuttel’s JPK 1030 named Sentinel Ocean Explorer , which he will be sailing in the single handed division of Cape2Rio Race 2023. The yacht is named after the charity, Sentinel Ocean Alliance, which he has been instrumental in supporting.

Another local entry is the gorgeous 40’ Gaff Cutter Bahari , belonging to husband-and-wife team of Brenton and Kim Chauncey. Bahari is the first cruising entry and after reaching Rio, the Chaunceys aim to cruise to Ilha Grande and then onwards to the Caribbean and the Med.

Lastly but certainly not least is the very exciting RCYC Academy entry that will be crewed by graduates of the Club’s in-house Sailing Academy. The Academy crew will sail on board Gryphon a Simonis 40-footer led by Skipper Sibusiso Sizatu.  The current crew list includes Olympic Sailor, Asenathi Jim and a talented group of sailors in Joweal Klaase, Thando Mntambo, Azile Arosi and Daniel Agulhas.

The three reserves are Justine Peters, Lebogang January and Ovayo Myira and the Campaign Manager is Academy Director Lindani Mchunu, RSA representative on the World Sailing Trust, supported by long time Cape2Rio stalwart Bruce Tedder.

“As a organising committee we look to continually position the Cape2Rio Race alongside some of the great ocean races of the world, a Southern Hemisphere event which takes place at the height of the European winter, a logical and pleasant way to enjoy some sun and warm water sailing after the traditional Summer circuit of the Mediterranean”, concluded Spillebeen.

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Sailing Magazine

The cape to rio race.

by Brian (Mugs) Hancock

The Cape to Rio race starts today. It’s one of the world’s iconic sailing events first raced back in 1971. Perhaps it’s more iconic to me than other sailors because I grew up with the race.

When I was a kid in South Africa the Rio Race was a big deal. Before the race started the local newspaper would have a supplement that featured all the competitors and also had, and this was my favourite part, a large pull-out map of the course from Cape Town all the way to Rio de Janeiro. Once the race started the newspaper would print daily the latitude and longitude of each yacht and I would plot the positions on the chart. I could not wait for the paper to be delivered and would lie on the verandah floor, which would always be warm from the afternoon sun, and plot the positions of each boat. It was very exciting and a wonderful memory. I knew that one day I would do the race and indeed I did, a couple of times.

In 1979, when was 20, I joined a famous South African boat named Dabulamanzi, as sailmaker. We were racing that year to Uruguay because most of the world, including Brazil, had sanctions against South African and would not let us into the country. We took off from Cape Town as a strong southeaster blew a white tablecloth over Table Mountain. It was thrilling beyond words. We set the huge green and white spinnaker being extra careful to make sure that the halyard was clipped to the head of the sail. Four years earlier the crew on the same boat attached the halyard to the clew and there is a famous shot of the fleet leaving Table Bay and there was Dabulamanzi with the spinnaker set sideways. We got it right and the spinnaker stayed up for 28 straight days until we got to Punte del Este in Uruguay.

I had promised my high school sweetheart that after the race I would head back to South African and that we would get married, but somewhere between Cape Town and South America I tasted the sweetness of the open road and never went back, well not for a while by which time she was married to someone else.

This is the second smallest fleet for the Rio race with the 2011 race attracting only 17 entries. Back in its heyday the race would routinely attract a huge fleet with the biggest fleet of 129 yachts taking part in 1976. For many years the Rio race was a way for South Africans to escape the country. They would use the race to springboard out of there to start a life in another country as apartheid and a corrupt government had a stranglehold on its citizens. It was never my intention to leave, but I chased the breeze and I am still at it. There are two starts with the smaller boats going out this Saturday (today) and the bigger boats on January 11. I will track the fleet just for the fun of it but somehow I don’t think that Yellow Brick Tracking will provide the same warmth as the verandah floor or the same thrill of connecting the different colour dots as the boats slowly make their was across the South Atlantic.

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Cape 2 Rio Race

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A classic blue-water ocean dash across the South Atlantic, the Cape to Rio began nearly 49 years ago. The first race set off from Table Bay in 1971 and has always had a huge international interest, even from the start. It is a tactical race, demanding both seamanship and weather-savvy, being the longest continent-to-continent yacht race in the southern hemisphere. The use of different ports for the finish has seen the race distance vary between 3 400 and 4 500 nautical miles. After leaving Cape Town, participants head north-west towards the island of Ilha Trindade, 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. Even though it is best known as the Cape to Rio Race, the race has indeed headed mainly for Rio, but at times to other South American venues, including Punta del Este in Uruguay, and more recently Salvador, the capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia. Cape Town has always been the starting point of the race since its inception.

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Iconic Cape 2 Rio 2023 race receives 9th entry, the Brazilian Audaz

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1971 | CAPE TO RIO

Start Date: 16 January 1971

Finish:  Rio de Janerio

Number of Entries: 59

Mark:  Ilha da Trinadade

Race Distance:  3600nm

Handicap Results:

Winner:  Albatros 2 Skipper/Owner: J Goodwin Time: 26d14h08m

Second Place:  Striana Skipper/Owner: A Maupas Time: 24d06h23m

Third Place:  Stormy Skipper/Owner: K Bruynzeel Time: 24d02h29m

Line Honours Results:

Winner:  Ocean Spirit Skipper/Owner: Robin Knox-Johnstone & Leslie Williams Time: 23d00h42m

Second Place: Graybeard Skipper/Owner: L Killam Time: 23d21h04m

Third Place:  Fortuna Skipper/Owner: Cdr E Rivero -Kelly Time: 23d22h50m

A fleet of 10 to 15 yachts was expected, but sailing fever took hold of South Africa and extended beyond its borders too. The first race attracted an amazing international entry of 69 boats, whose skippers included Robin Knox-Johnston, Eric Tabarly, Kees Bruynzeel, and Lt.Cdr. Maximo Reveiro Kelly. Ultimately, 59 yachts were on the starting line.

The boats set sail on 16 January from Table Bay, with an estimated crowd of 100 000 in attendance. The fleet and the numerous vessels surrounding it made for a breath-taking sight on a sunny day. SAS (South African Ships) Tafelberg served as guardship for the voyage. An ambitious weather-reporting exercise, organised by the University of Cape Town department of oceanography was also organised where the boats would do radio daily weather reports, such as data on sea and air temperatures, wind velocity and direction, cloud conditions, and wave direction and height, to an ocean-going research vessel. The results would provide much new information about meteorological conditions in the South Atlantic.

Bruce Dalling was chosen to lead the South African challenge in Jakaranda , 17-metre yawl which was built especially for the Cape to Rio. She was a hugely expensive yacht for the time; she cost US$12 000 to design and R135 000 to build. Unfortunately, she had her title challenge ended by a sheared rudder post during the race.

Voortrekker was also in the race, skippered by Cdr. A Thomas.

Another notable entry was the yacht Sprinter with her all-women crew of five; it was the first time that an all-women crew would compete in an ocean race between two continents.

The British Royal Naval Association entered the race with a 21.6m ketch – Ocean Spirit , co-skippered by two high-profile men in the world of sailing: Robin Knox-Johnstone, who had become the first man to circumnavigate the globe single-handed in 1968 and 1969, for which he was awarded the CBE, and Leslie Williams, who had finished fourth in the 1968 Atlantic single-handed race. They had teamed up to win the 1970 Round Britain race in Ocean Spirit . They ended up taking line honours after a crossing of 23 days and 42 minutes after a furious dice with the big Canadian entry, Graybeard . Despite their efforts, by the ninth day, Albatros II, a 12.8m sloop built in Knysna and skippered by John Goodwin, had taken over the lead on handicap Albatros II was the eighth boat into port, but on corrected time she narrowly pipped Striana for handicap honours. She finished the crossing in 26 days and 14 hours despite opting for a southerly course and being reduced to a virtual standstill while those boats that had chosen a course further north made good ground.

Ocean Spirit won line honours for the first race on 8 February, after 23 days and 42 minutes. Graybeard was second across the line, almost a day later. Fortuna finished less than two hours behind the Canadian entry, with Pen Duick III , the winner of the 1967 Sydney to Hobart yacht race, skippered by Legion d’Honeur holder Lieutenant Eric Tabarly finishing fourth. Sprinter , with her all-women crew, was 44th across the line, and greeted with a special three-gun salute to mark the historic moment.

Cape2Rio1973 | Race Finish

Cape2Rio1973 | Race Start

Race brochure:.

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