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Sailing in Ilhabela
Mountainous island off the Sao Paulo coast, and the center of Brazilian yacht racing.
Why here
Ilhabela is where Brazilian sailing actually lives. The channel between the island and Sao Sebastiao is the country's best-known racing water, and the school on Praia da Armacao has taught here since 1994, running everything from dinghy clinics for beginners through ocean sailing courses and the Arrais Amador skipper license. The rarer offering is passage sailing: crossings and regatta places aboard a 34 foot keelboat, which is inventory that is hard to find anywhere in South America. Southern summer means November onward is the season, and unlike most of this list there is no event distorting the calendar, so you get the water without the crowd.
Best months
November and December open the southern summer: warm water, long days, and a thermal sea breeze that builds through the afternoon in the Sao Sebastiao channel. This is also the wet season on the Sao Paulo coast, and Ilhabela is one of the rainiest places in the state, so plan around afternoon rain rather than being surprised by it. Ilhabela Sailing Week, the regatta the island is known for, is a July event, so these months are not it. Borrachudos, the local biting midges, are a real nuisance ashore in the warm months.
Getting there & around
Fly into Sao Paulo Guarulhos and drive roughly three and a half hours to Sao Sebastiao, then take the vehicle ferry across, about fifteen minutes. The coast road is heavy on summer weekends and the ferry queues, so travel midweek if you can. The school is at Praia da Armacao on the island's west coast. Instruction is in Portuguese. The school claims a range of affiliations including ISSA and the Brazilian and Sao Paulo state sailing federations, but those have not been confirmed against the certifying bodies' own directories, so treat the qualification you walk away with as something to verify directly before booking. There is one school here, so there is no local fallback.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (1)
BL3 Escola de Iatismo
SchoolSailing school at Praia da Armacao operating since 1994, teaching dinghy classes in Optimist, Open Bic and Laser, basic and intermediate ocean sailing, and the Brazilian Arrais Amador skipper license, plus windsurf, kitesurf and wingfoil. Runs regatta places and crossings aboard a Wind 34 keelboat. Instruction in Portuguese.
Also good for sailing in November:
Torn between Ilhabela and Aswan for November?
A plan settles it for your skill and budget, same-day.