Brazilian Ocean Championship 2026 adopts new format

The Associação Brasileira de Veleiros de Oceano (ABVO) has announced a new format for the 2026 Brazilian Ocean Championship. For the first time, the competition will unite the four primary national ocean sailing classes: ORC, Bra-RGS, RGS-Cruiser, and RGS-Clássicos.

The event will be organized in partnership with the Iate Clube de Santos and the Iate Clube do Rio de Janeiro. The schedule begins on October 22 with the 76th Santos-Rio Regatta, followed by the 57th Rio Circuit from October 30 to November 2.

A revised progressive scoring system has been implemented to prevent early title decisions. The Santos-Rio Regatta will carry a weight of 1.0 with no discard option, while subsequent races will increase in weight, reaching 1.7 for the final race of the Rio Circuit. According to ABVO Commodore Bayard Neto, this format is designed to identify the most complete teams by testing endurance in open sea during the Santos-Rio crossing and technical maneuvering during the coastal races of the Rio Circuit.