Jangada Mar

Jangada Mar is a short-session sailing race set on the coast of Ceará, in north-east Brazil. You sail a jangada, the log raft with a triangular sail that local fishermen still launch straight from the beach, and race three rival jangadeiros around two buoys and back to the sand before the sun goes down. There is no engine and no shortcut: just the wind, the swell, your sail and a clock that runs out at sunset. Steer by touching the water where you want to go and trim the sail with the sheet slider while you watch the telltale ribbon. You can't sail straight into the wind, so the first buoy always has to be tacked, and every tack costs speed. Schools of fish sit off the racing line: netting one adds catch points but makes the raft heavier and slower, and anything still at sea at sunset is lost, so every race is a choice between the fast line and a detour for fish. The first heat at each beach uses the real wind and swell at that beach today, and later heats shift the wind and turn the tide. Because the conditions follow the real coast and the daily regatta changes every day, a return visit to Jangada Mar always brings a new wind to read. Features: • Three real Ceará beaches: Mucuripe in Fortaleza, Canoa Quebrada and Jericoacoara. Finish a beach's regatta to open the next one. • Live conditions: the first heat uses today's real wind and swell at that beach; later heats shift the wind and turn the tide. • Touch-to-steer controls, a sheet slider for trimming the sail and a telltale ribbon that shows whether the sail is drawing. • Real upwind sailing: you can't point straight at the wind, the first buoy has to be tacked and every tack costs speed. • Three rival jangadeiros with their own tactics: one runs the layline, one short-tacks and one goes fishing. • A briefing chart before each heat in Jangada Mar shows the marks, the schools of fish and the line each rival is likely to sail. • Fishing off the racing line: each school you net adds catch points but makes the raft heavier and slower, and anything still at sea at sunset is lost. • A daily regatta with the same beach, rivals and wind for the whole day, plus an optional reminder. • A sail workshop where you sew a photo from your camera or gallery into your sail. • A logbook that keeps your heats, wins and kilos landed. • Turquoise shallows, white sails, sand and palms, with races that take two or three minutes. Push off from the sand in Jangada Mar and race the sun home.

First release.