But for all of this, there’s a sense that elite sailing hasn’t quite figured out what it wants to be. Is it a made-for-TV spectacle like SailGP? A full-bore design race like the America’s Cup? Or a community-driven proving ground like the 52 Super Series and 44Cup? The answer, increasingly, seems to be: all of the above. And that’s both the sport’s great strength and its biggest challenge.
Let’s start with SailGP, the most compelling regular dose of professional sailboat racing the world has ever seen. From the start, Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts promised F1 on water — and they’ve largely delivered. The latest season has seen some enthralling action and the mandatory introduction of women into every team seems less and less like a token gesture. The latest shake-up in team ownership has seen Red Bull Italy being acquired by an investment group that includes the film star Anne Hathaway and proves SailGP is now on the radar of Hollywood and hedge funds alike.
Yet, beneath the gloss and spectacle, SailGP faces a deeper challenge: can a league so tightly scripted by central authority foster genuine, lasting fan loyalty? For me, the rivalries in SailGP often seem manufactured rather than having been allowed to develop naturally. SailGP is a decent TV product, no doubt. The social media output is impressive, but sometimes it all feels more like reality TV than real sport.
Meanwhile, the America’s Cup has its own challenges – many of which stem from the event’s unique ‘winner makes the rules’ format and the eye-watering costs involved in mounting a serious challenge. The evolution from conventional boats to the foiling wonders of the AC75s was inevitable. The AC has always been about utilising the latest and greatest technology and design thinking, and when you follow along that path you end up with flying boats.
The interim period between cycles is always a difficult time to report on the America’s Cup. Most of the negotiations go on in secret and the teams will tell you virtually nothing that is not off the record. This time around we have seen open rebellion from Challenger of Record Athena Racing in concert with the American Magic top brass who also voiced their frustrations.
This is classic Cup theatre — passionate, murky, and utterly confusing to anyone outside the inner circle. And yet, despite the chaos, the Cup still commands reverence and attention from the sailing fans and even the mainstream media.
Naples will doubtless be a good venue – the prevailing sea state and wind strength will be a step up from Barcelona, at least. How long the protocol wrangling will continue remains to be seen. Theoretically the entry period opens on June 1, but how soon we will hear about challenges (and how many) remains to be seen. For me, the America’s Cup remains the pinnacle event of the sport of sailing, but it needs to keep its fan base engaged if it is to stay relevant in the wider sporting context.
Then there is the 52 Super Series, which continues to be the gold standard for monohull grand prix racing. In many ways, it’s the spiritual heir to the IACC-era America’s Cup: no foils, no fireworks, just supremely close racing in boats that demand precision and teamwork to sail well. In 2025, the series remains fiercely competitive. This year there are thirteen boats from ten nations are on the circuit — a testament to its enduring appeal among the wealthy owner/driver community and the hordes of professional sailors that populate the class.
The 44Cup finds itself in a similar position: incredibly competitive, with a strong core of owner-drivers and loyal teams, but struggling to break beyond its niche – although maybe that’s not the point in a class that most pro-sailors say is their favourite. The 44Cup thrives on tight one-design rules and some of the slickest race management in the business. It’s still one of the best-kept secrets in sailing — but, as I said, maybe they like it that way.
There’s another player in the mix too: the ETF26 catamaran circuit. It doesn’t get the same attention, but this foiling trimaran class continues to offer sensational racing to a group of owner/drivers and pro-sailors at venues across France, Italy, and Spain. Its commercial footprint is small compared to the major regatta circuits and with a fleet of just eight boats racing in 2025 it looks set to remain a niche event.
While some circuits wrestle with identity or longevity, the offshore-focused IMOCA class is booming — arguably enjoying its most dynamic period in decades. Once the preserve of a small group of ocean-racing obsessives, IMOCA now sits at the intersection of elite sport, cutting-edge design, global storytelling, and ocean health. The latest generation of foiling 60-footers are not only breaking records but also redefining what it means to race solo offshore. With boats capable of sustained speeds over 30 knots and campaigns increasingly backed by major brands and corporate sponsors, the class is thriving both technically and commercially.
What’s more, the IMOCA calendar is no longer just about the Vendée Globe. The integration of these boats into The Ocean Race brought a welcome multi-crewed dynamic to the fleet, while the Transat Café l'OR (formerly the Transat Jacques Vabre) and Route du Rhum continue to deliver epic solo and double-handed transatlantic matchups respectively.
The 2028 Vendée Globe is already shaping up to be the most competitive edition yet, with a growing list of prospective challengers from a broad range of nationalities. Young talent is coming in, sustainability messaging is now baked into most campaigns, and crucially, the stories being told — of resilience, risk, and human performance — are resonating well beyond the sailing world. In a sport that often struggles to connect with wider audiences, IMOCA may be the exception that proves the rule.
So where does all this leave high-performance sailing as a whole? SailGP dazzles but struggles for authenticity. The America’s Cup remains prestigious and respected but needs to attract a strong challenger field for AC38 to avoid people losing interest. The TP52s and RC44s uphold the spirit of ‘traditional’ monohull racing but at some point will need reinvigoration. IMOCA is charging ahead strongly on its own foiling trajectory and looks to have the fan base and commercial backing to go from strength to strength.
What sailing needs now isn’t more speed — it’s more connection. Between the sailors and the fans, and between the stories we tell and the worldwide audience we are trying to reach. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to have some more cooperation and coordination – rather than competition – between the organisers of our sport's top-tier events.
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