I tried to crop him out but the sail shapes were too important. In the end I decided his arm was also important to the composition, and that required his body to be present in the frame. There is no more picture to the right.
His shirt leads the eye upwards to the sail, then to the row of clouds going left, down the mast on the left to the principal actor in the scene whose right leg continues the line of the mast. Once you are there the eye travels along the blue boat and back to the man with arm raised. A circular pattern which, I think, removes some of the tension from the scene - which is echoed by his relaxed manner. So, we know that the race is still in preparation mode. Compare this with the scene Top Ranking pushes off - here the composition is linear, right to left motion, emphasizing the tension at race start.