Round the word competitive single person sailing. The platforms used today are not that stable. Yet you have to sleep and keep the boat going as fast as possible. You can run into situations and conditions where sleep is suicide so drugs must be used to stay awake I imagine. Yes it is a race as well.

To me the risks are too high to call it a sport. It to me is remarkable the majority finish those events. Perhaps today with the extensive worldwide weather information available. They skirt the worse of it. It is almost impossible to skirt all of it though. When racing or not.

At times the weather and direction you have to go will beat the body up pretty bad. They probably have air suspension seats and bunks in them. I do not know if power sail roller reefing is allowed to be computer controlled.

The boats used in these competitions today are really fast. That only means you can get into serious trouble much faster if a situation arises. I have had to wonder about the sanity of people that take on this type of challenge.