Structural talent shortage at elite level
“It’s hard to achieve everything at once. You’ve got to pick your projects and then basically pick an order and prioritise them,” says Coutts.
SailGP is in the process of developing its training base, to enable teams to build up their squads, bring in younger athletes, train them, and then create an athlete transfer market.
In July 2025, it opened a hub for future off-water athlete training and development, with a fully operational simulator. The idea is to encourage teams to invest in young athletes, knowing that even if the teams don’t end up using them, they can trade them to another team and probably recruit some of their funds that they’ve invested. The hub will create more flight controllers, wing trimmers and drivers for the F50s racing.
“We need programmes that train and evaluate athletes more professionally,” says Coutts.
“I would like to mandate that 50 per cent of the athletes in the training centre were female, you know, so the male-female demographic was evenly split.” The elite yacht racing industry, high-end performance, is often credited with delivering a trickle-down effect into the marine industry, for example technological innovation. If Coutts’ 50/50 mandate comes to fruition, creating gender parity could create a tsunami.
Not enough athletes for the number of jobs tick tick tick
Among many speakers who detailed encouraging youth participation, Jo Grindley – CCO and CMO for Emirates GBR SailGP – (panellist during YRF / SailGP: State of the league five years on) reflected on the work that the Athena Pathway program has been involved with, both to develop talent at the top end, but also at grassroots as well.
The pathway constantly has young people taking part. “We have inner city schools coming through in London, but we also have sports, female squads, under 18 squads, over 18 squads that are developing into that foiling capability.”
But: “One of the main problems I think us as teams are having is actually there’s such a small pool of sailors that can actually race on these boats now.”
Thus, one of Grindley’s winter projects is going to learn from other sports how they monetise training academies. She’s heading to the Football Association to “really understand the financial model as well as the performance model around how to develop an academy.” Grindley is pictured above.
The lack of talent has pushed the prices for athletes through the roof, says Bruno Dubois, CEO and team principal France SailGP. “You don’t want to know the salary of people. I’ve never seen that in in my life, which is amazing for the sailor. But it’s going to go down as soon as we have more sailors coming in. Because then you pick up and choose the one you want. That’s the reason why you want your young sailors coming in.”
The message from Metstrade and the Yacht Racing Forum is unmistakable: the future of boating will not wait for the industry to feel ready. Demographics are shifting, expectations are changing, and the next generation is already looking elsewhere. Whether through representation, redesigned pathways, or bold rule-making, the marine sector must actively build the audience it wants – because the one it has is disappearing. Simply acknowledging problems is no longer acceptable.
Change isn’t optional anymore; it’s the price of survival. THE REPORT | MAR 2026 | ISSUE 115 | 91
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