Rowing Clubs in Brazil: Rio, Porto Alegre and Florianópolis

This page is for rowers moving to or visiting Brazil, and for Brazilians looking for a first club. Rowing here is small but deeply rooted: the national confederation counted 52 active clubs in 2023, yet the sport gave birth to some of the country’s biggest football names. At the 2025 national long-boat championships, Flamengo won both the men’s and women’s rankings.

Clubs

Club	Founded	Location/water	Who it’s for	Website
Clube de Regatas do Flamengo	1895	Rio de Janeiro, Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas	masters, competitive	n/a
Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas	1894	Rio de Janeiro; races on the Lagoa	masters, competitive	n/a
Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama	1898	Rio de Janeiro, Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas	learn-to-row, masters, competitive	n/a
Clube de Regatas Guanabara	n/a	Rio de Janeiro; races on the Lagoa	juniors, masters	n/a
Clube de Regatas Piraquê	n/a	Rio de Janeiro; races on the Lagoa	masters	n/a
Grêmio Náutico União	1906	Porto Alegre, Guaíba	juniors, competitive	gnu.com.br
Clube de Regatas Guaíba-Porto Alegre	n/a	Porto Alegre, Guaíba	competitive	n/a
Esporte Clube Pinheiros	1899	São Paulo	competitive	n/a
Sport Club Corinthians Paulista	n/a	São Paulo	competitive	n/a
Club Athletico Paulistano	n/a	São Paulo	competitive	paulistano.org.br
Clube Náutico Riachuelo	1915	Florianópolis, Baía Sul	competitive	n/a
Clube Náutico Francisco Martinelli	1915	Florianópolis, Baía Sul	competitive	n/a
Clube de Regatas Aldo Luz	1918	Florianópolis, Baía Sul	competitive	n/a
Clube Náutico América	1920	Blumenau	competitive	n/a

Botafogo’s year is the founding of the rowing club, which merged with the football club in 1942. An “n/a” website means there’s no rowing page we can point you to, not that the club has no site. Flamengo, for example, has a large site whose rowing pages didn’t load for us.

How rowing is organised

The Confederação Brasileira de Remo (CBR) was founded on 25 November 1977, though organised rowing is far older. Rio Grande do Sul set up a Comitê de Regatas in 1894, and the first recorded race was in Botafogo Bay in 1851.

Clubs affiliate through 12 state federations, including FRERJ (Rio), Remosul (Rio Grande do Sul), FERESC (Santa Catarina) and the Federação Paulista de Remo. Your state federation is the right first contact for a current club list. The CBR says resources concentrate in Rio, São Paulo and Porto Alegre, and that clubs in the north and north-east struggle for funding.

Season and main regattas

Rio’s regatta calendar runs from March to November with no winter break, and the national championships fall at either end of the year.

• National short-boat championships: the 2026 edition ran from 24 February to 1 March at the Raia Olímpica da USP in São Paulo, and doubled as the national team trial.
• National long-boat championships: held in October 2025 on the Lagoa.
• Rio state championship: six regattas in 2026, from 14 March to 3 October, plus Regatas do Futuro for young rowers and the Copa Rio Master on 31 May and 8 November.
• Santa Catarina championship: contested since 1919, and raced in Florianópolis and Blumenau. In 2024 it ran in four stages from March to September, with 500 m races for masters and beginners.

Joining as a visitor

Most of these are large multi-sport clubs, so expect to deal with general membership as well as the rowing department. Vasco is the clearest way in for a beginner: its school at the Sede Náutica on the Lagoa offered a free trial class when enrolment last opened in the coverage we read (December 2021), so check it still does.

As a rule of thumb, expect to work in Portuguese, and allow time for membership paperwork. If you’re only in Rio for a short stay, watching a regatta at the Lagoa is the easy option: entry to the June 2026 state regatta was free. If your trip also takes in Buenos Aires or Mexico City, see rowing clubs in Argentina or rowing clubs in Mexico.

How to pick a club in Brazil

• Rio for top squads, Florianópolis for choice. Rio’s big clubs lead the national rankings, while Florianópolis clubs share the Parque Náutico Walter Lange, so one trip lets you visit several boathouses.
• Check where the boats actually are. A club’s address may not be its boathouse. Paulistano’s page lists a Jardim América address but names no rowing venue, and União has four sites in Porto Alegre, so ask which one rowing uses.
• Masters look to Rio first. The 2025 Torneio Master drew Flamengo, Maricá, Guanabara, Piraquê, Botafogo and Vasco. Santa Catarina counts crews over 27 as masters.
• Juniors have a proper pathway. The Regata Remo do Futuro has taken athletes from age 12, and the 2025 edition was won by Maricá ahead of Flamengo and Guanabara.

New to the sport? Read rowing for beginners and why a club is worth joining. Portuguese speakers may also like our Portugal hub or all club guides.

Spotted a mistake or a missing club? Tell us.