About Cape2Rio

The longest continent-to-continent yacht race in the southern hemisphere.

Race Overview

The Cape2Rio is a 3,300 Nautical Mile transatlantic ocean race - Starting in Cape Town, South Africa, crossing the South Atlantic Ocean and finishing in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Given the scale and preparation involved, the race is held only every 3 years with competitors typically comprising of 40-50ft racing yachts.

Facts

  • The Cape2Rio 2025 is a 3,300nm or 6,112km voyage if the “great circle” or shortest distance is followed.

    The fleet will actually head a considerable way North past Namibia before cutting across the Atlantic, and then back down along the Brazil coast.

    The resulting distance is likely to be a lot longer.

  • The cutoff date for arriving in Rio is the 27th of January, giving an upper limit on how long competitors can take.

    The current record sits at just under 8 days, but the average winning time over the past 5 races is 18 days.

    The bulk of the fleet will be expected to complete the passage in 21-26 days, with the single and double handed yachts towards the end of the time limit.

  • Cape2Rio is a true continent-to-continent ocean race with no stops along the way. This means we must carry everything we need for the entire journey from start to finish, including all food, water, fuel, spare parts and safety equipment.

  • The 2025 Cape2Rio has had 8 of the original 20 entrants pull out for various reasons, namely inability to get insurance and not enough time to prepare the boats.

    There will be 2 double handed (only 2 crew) boats this year and impressively a single hander as well.

    Unfortunately the all-girl crew on the sailing academy boat “Angel Wings” were forced to diversify the crew due to there just not being enough girls meeting the qualification requirements, now bringing 2 boys along to assist the main 4 girl crew.