Sailing is changing… do you like it?

Is modern racing starting to look more like checkers than chess? Is something being lost in the pursuit of frenetic, high-speed thrills and spills? Lu Heikell attempts to answer the questions for Yachting Monthly… here’s an excerpt:

I have been following three offshore yacht races in recent months, which allows me to vicariously scratch the itch of sailing whilst at my desk.

All these races are, to varying degrees, something of a slow burn, running as they do over the course of hundreds (or thousands) of miles, and we are, of course, always at a very long arm’s distance from the live action, but as these races unfold, they develop their own narratives that keep me interested as the race progresses. And all the time the highs and lows of the sailors can be readily understood.

And then there is the other racing series I’ve been following, SailGP. I really don’t know where I stand here. The ‘machines’ are completely alien to my sailing world, and their phenomenally technical set-up utterly foreign. Helm, yes. Grinders, yes. Even tactician is a familiar term. But flight controller? Anyone? – Full report