Also, the material science involved in creating laminated sailcloth is very close to state-of-the-art.
Of course, racing yachts go fast because they weigh very little.
Also, Kitesails [1] have been proposed many times over the last few decades, but I've not heard of anyone using one commercially.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingsail
[1] https://cleantechnica.com/2018/09/11/airbus-seawing-kite-sai...