The 5th edition of the COPAC Pan American Ocean Racing Championships will take place in Ceará this year. The world-class event brings together elite athletes from the Americas in rowing and sailing for ten days in August and September. The Ceará beaches from Aquiraz to Cumbuco will see the main action.
Ceará was selected to host this year’s sporting event, organised by the Ceará Association of Stand-up Paddle (ASUPCE). The championships will include five types of sailing and a further five in rowing. All races will take the downwind format, with competitors leaving one beach to arrive at another and rowing or sailing 32km.
Best conditions for ocean rowing
The state of Ceará in Northeast Brazil offers some of the world’s top rowing and sailing scenarios and is the best in Brazil. The optimum wind and water conditions were a deciding factor in the selection of Ceará for the 2023 COPAC Championships.
“The conditions presented for the application are excellent,” said Victor Ruiz, President of the Pan American Canoe Confederation. “We believe it will replicate the great 2019 event when Salvador in Northeast Brazil hosted the Championships.”
Molokabra Downwind
The event takes place between 25 August and 2 September this year on several beaches in Ceará. In the south, they include Prainha and Porto das Dunas in Aquiraz as well as several in Fortaleza, such as the iconic Praia do Futuro. Sailers and rowers then move north to Cumbuco beach, one of the best in Northeast Brazil.
Sailing events encompass kitesurf, hobby cat and windsurfing, while those for rowing include stand-up paddle, Hawaiian canoe, paddleboard and surf ski.
“The event will bring the best rowing and sailing athletes to the area,” said Alexandre Nogueira, Events Director at ASUPCE. “The Championships have international competition status and will place Ceará on the world map.”
Another opportunity to showcase kitesurf in Ceará
The event will also give Ceará a chance to showcase its excellent kitesurf conditions and infrastructure. The state regularly hosts world kitesurf competitions and forms part of the Brazilian and South American circuits.
Ceará businesses, beach resorts, hotels and restaurants will be participating in the event, including those on other parts of the coastline not included in the 32km Molokabra Downwind.
Kitesurf represents big business in Ceará, drawing tens of thousands of Brazilian and international tourists every year. Over the last few years, the sport has also appealed to other demographics such as digital nomads, wishing to combine work and their favourite sport in some of the best conditions anywhere in the world.
(Source: COPAC)
