Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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cp2616
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Joined: Thu Nov 28, 2002 11:16 am
Location: Spirit Lake, Iowa
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Post by cp2616 »

First let me start by saying I wouldn't pick Rio for a kiteboarding vaca, but if your going, it wouldn't hurt to bring the kites. However, there are great spots in Brazil such as Fortaleza, Florianopolis, Buzios, and I'm sure there are others nobody told me about.

Keep aware of what's going down in Rio. It is probably the sketchiest city in South America outside of Colombia. Our Brazilian friends from São Paulo were not comfortable there.

There is a kiteboarding club near post 2 on Barra da Tijuca near the neighborhood of Pepe. If the wind is blowing, this is the ideal beach in Rio as it is 12 miles long and not near as crowed as the famous Ipanema and Copacabana. I was there in March and it was too light to kiteboard in Rio while I was there. I hear that the wind does pick up other time of the year. I would not consider Rio a beginner location as the surf is about 6' and the currents are very strong (Ipanema = bad waters). I believe Brazilian Champion, Carol Freitas, was there the day we were. She put her kite up and jumped a couple times on the beach and must have decided it was not windy enough.

A better spot for wind is Lake Araruama in the town of Araruama. Araruama is about 1.5 hour drive north of Rio. There is a cool kiteboarding school there. Jerry's Kiteboarding school is in Araruama. Jerry is a French guy and most of the instructors that I met spoke English. I rented a board for 30 rias (about $10) for the day. I brought my kites. Just a warning, Jerry’s is very difficult to find if you do speak Portuguese and probably impossible if you don’t. No one in Araruama seems to know anything about kiteboarding, or Jerry’s. The GPS coordinates of Jerry's is S 22 52' 40.3" W 42 16' 41.8". If you don't speak Portuguese I don't know how else you would find it. Below is a map.

Image

Araruama is a lagoon with a shallow sandbar for learning. They will boat you over to the sandbar or the conditions are good right out front of Jerry’s if you can stay upwind. They tell me that Buzios, which is up the road another 1.5 hours has some of the best conditions in Brazil with lots of waves.

My pictures from Araruama and Jerry's

I have been told that the best kiteboarding in Brazil is in Florianopolis in the south. I was in Brazil with surfers and they said that Florianopolis has excellent surfing if the wind is not closing out the sets. Wow! It has ideal geography as it is on an island situated very close to the mainland. Also several Brazilians mentioned to me that the most beautiful Brazilian women live in Florianopolis. I think I will check it out my next trip down.
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