Rio de Janeiro's most famous stretch of sand had a new visitor overhead on Sunday: an aircraft towing a giant banner above Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon, announcing a World Cup of sailing bound for the city's waters.
Planes trailing adverts along the coastline are a familiar Rio tradition on summer weekends and public holidays, but this one carried a different message. It promoted what organisers are billing as 40 national teams, Olympic champions and medallists, knockout rounds, and a winner-takes-all Grand Final between four countries, culminating in the crowning of the World Sailing Nations Champion.
Developed by the world's leading sailors together with the founders of the Star Sailors League, the format pits nation against nation, with crews racing identical boats. Equipment budgets and technology development don't come into it; the result rests on sailing skill, tactics, crew coordination and teamwork alone.
The championship runs in Guanabara Bay from 18 November to 13 December. Promotional sailing along Rio's coastline continued into Monday, 2 November, Brazil's All Souls' Day public holiday, with preparations gathering pace ahead of the opening.
The SSL47 fleet is already based at AXIA Marina da Glória, the venue that hosted sailing at the Rio 2016 Olympics. It will serve as the event's operational base, complete with a dedicated sail loft and technical facilities to keep the fleet race-ready.
Sunday's sailing session brought together mixed crews from France, Peru, Chile and Brazil, including sailors from the Brazilian Naval Academy Sailing Club. Among them was Xavier Rohart, France's Athens 2004 Olympic bronze medallist in the Star class and President of the Star Sailors League, who sailed alongside Gabriel Portilho Borges, a two-time Pan American Games sailing gold medallist, as the crews worked through manoeuvres, boat handling and communication aboard the SSL47s.
For Rohart, the setting carries real weight.
"I have enormous respect for Brazilian sailing. Brazil has produced so many talented sailors and has an incredible level across different disciplines, from offshore racing and match racing to Olympic sailing. That applies to sailors from different generations. To be here, at the venue which hosted the sailing events at the 2016 Olympic Games, is an honour," said Rohart.
He's not short on ambition either, even while respecting the host nation's pedigree.
"Our expectations are always high because, of course, we want to become world champions. But we know we are competing against very strong countries, particularly Brazil, whose sailors know these waters extremely well. Our approach will be to take things day by day, always trying to do the best we can and achieve the best possible result," he added.
The session doubled as a rare opportunity for younger sailors. Enzo de Giácomo Pereira, a cadet with the Brazilian Naval Academy Sailing Club, known locally as GVEN, was invited aboard one of the competition boats with his teammates.
"Taking part in an experience like this is extremely important for us. It's an opportunity to discover a different way of sailing, learn new manoeuvres and experience a boat unlike those we're used to. Every opportunity to get out on the water contributes to our development," he said.
