Happy Friday everyone...
In today's newsletter:
- That's Entertainment...
- 2.4 mR Class president Heiko Kroeger throws his support behind Argo Challenge America's Cup hopes
- Vendée Globe record-breaker Charlie Dalin won gruelling race after cancer diagnosis
- Blind Ambition
- Quiz Question...
That's Entertainment...
Sailing’s biggest stages – the America’s Cup, Olympic sailing, SailGP, and the Vendée Globe – are now global entertainment products. But does that matter to the weekend racer? Here's why I think it’s something the sport should celebrate, not fear.
There was a time – and it wasn’t all that long ago – when the big-ticket events in our sport were run primarily for sailors. The America’s Cup, the Olympics, even offshore classics like the Whitbread, were essentially competitions staged by sailors, for sailors, and watched only by those already immersed in the sport.
But the landscape has shifted. Today, sailing’s four biggest stages – the America’s Cup, Olympic sailing, SailGP, and the Vendée Globe – are as much entertainment products as they are sporting contests. They are packaged, broadcast, clipped, and streamed in ways that look far more like mainstream sport than niche yacht racing.
The question is: is this a good thing? And perhaps more importantly, does it even matter to the millions of sailors who spend their weekends battling it out in dinghies, sportsboats, or keelboats?
Let’s start with SailGP – because if ever there was a sailing series born for television, this is it. The whole concept was designed with the sports entertainment model front and centre: short, sharp fleet races in identical foiling catamarans; city-centre venues where spectators can line the waterfront; a slick broadcast package with data overlays and expert commentary.
SailGP aims –with varying degrees of success – to replicate the atmosphere and high-adrenaline action of a Formula 1 weekend, but on water. You could argue that without this kind of mainstream presentation, sailing doesn’t stand a chance of cutting through in today’s ultra-competitive sports and entertainment marketplace. Whatever you might think of it, SailGP has created a genuinely watchable product that attracts eyeballs far beyond our small sailing bubble.
The America’s Cup has been on a similar journey – albeit a much longer one. Once the preserve of a few yacht clubs and their billionaire backers, in recent decades the Cup has become a media extravaganza. The switch to foiling multihulls in San Francisco in 2013 was the tipping point, and since then the Cup has doubled down on spectacle: faster boats, tighter courses, better graphics, and wall-to-wall coverage.
Purists might lament the loss of stately monohulls duelling off Newport or Fremantle. But if the Cup had stayed that way, would anyone outside the sport still be watching? Actually, who knows? Maybe they would? But what a crying shame it would have been for an event that has always been about creating the fastest possible boat to have ignored the foiling revolution. The fact is, the America’s Cup has grown into a headline act in the wider sporting calendar – and that visibility is no bad thing...
2.4 mR Class president Heiko Kroeger throws his support behind Argo Challenge America's Cup hopes
German's Heiko Kroeger, one of the best disabled sailors of all time, who often competes in open competitions, has no doubts: "The Argo Challenge to the America's Cup can become a great reality!"
The German sailor, Paralympic gold medallist in Sydney 2000 and silver medallist at the London 2012 Paralympics, in addition to eight 2.5 mR world titles, is currently the President of the International 2.4 mR Class.
He continues: "We fully support this idea, and in our class there are several sailors with disabilities who could be part of the team. After all, we are used to being in a cockpit and steering the boat using only our hands. With adequate preparation, one can also be competitive".
The goal of Argo Challenge is to participate with crews made up of sailors with disabilities in the Youth America's Cup and the Women's America's Cup during the 38th America's Cup, which will take place in Naples in 2027.
If permitted, the team also intends to participate in the preliminary events scheduled with the AC40s, racing against the official crews who will compete for the victory of the 38th America's Cup.
"After the Yacht Club Gaeta, another partner has joined us who will be able to make an important contribution to this ambitious challenge. Gaeta will be the home, and the International 2.4 mR Class will bring the people who will work together in that home to achieve such a great and unique goal," concludes Antonio Spinelli, President of Argo Challenge.
Vendée Globe record-breaker Charlie Dalin won gruelling race after cancer diagnosis
French ocean racer Charlie Dalin has revealed that he was diagnosed with cancer in 2023, and completed – and won – the gruelling 2024/25 Vendée Globe while continuing treatment for the illness – writes Helen Fretter on the Yachting World website.
Dalin, skipper of the IMOCA Macif Santé Prévoyance had withdrawn from the 2023 Transat Jacques Vabre transatlantic race for unspecified medical issues. He confirmed in his autobiography La Force du Destin (‘The Force of Destiny’), released tomorrow, that he was in fact diagnosed with a gastrointestinal stromal tumour that autumn.
Despite this, Dalin went on to qualify for the Vendée Globe, completing the Transat CIC and return New York Vendée-Les Sables Race in the summer of 2024.
Dalin then delivered one of the most impressive winning performances in the solo non-stop around the world Vendée Globe race’s history, pushing his IMOCA to blistering speeds and maintaining a ferociously relentless work rate throughout – famously riding a low pressure system in the South Indian Ocean to pull ahead of his close rival Yoann Richomme on Paprec Arkéa.
He finished the race in 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes, and 49 seconds, demolishing the previous course record by 10 days.
Dalin reports that he first noticed symptoms in late 2023 during a training sail, and received his diagnosis after emergency scans.
The skipper, who sails for MerConcept, did not publicly announce that he was going through cancer treatment, though he and his team adapted his training due to the weight loss and fatigue he suffered...
Blind Ambition
One of the most remarkable achievements of 2025 was the circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight by Dani A. Pich, from Catalonia, Spain who became the first blind sailor attempt and complete the passage solo.
His achievement was all the more impressive given he did it aboard his rudderless – yes rudderless – 5.60-metre (18.3-foot) wooden patí català catamaran.
This 30-minute documentary from local photographer/videographer Tim Jeffreys brilliantly chronicles Pich's story and highlights the support he received from the sailing community on the Isle of Wight – in particular from the flag officers and members of the East Cowes Yacht Club, the Royal Yacht Squadron, along with British journalist and local resident, Magnus Wheatley.
It's heartwarming, inspirational and very well worth a watch.
Quiz Question...
Which class of boat was used for the Women's Match Racing competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games?
Answer in the next newsletter...
Yesterday's answer: Regular Yacht Racing Life website subscribers will have known well that the 2025 Dragon World Championship was won by the Turkish entry Provezza Dragon sailed by Andy Beadsworth, Simon Fry, and Enes Caylak. You can read our exclusive interview with Andy below.
Justin Chisholm
