News Around the World
NEW ZEALAND July has been a good month for New Zealand match racing, with Phil Robertson claiming his second world title in Marstrand, Sweden, and two Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron crews claiming first and second in the Governor’s Cup at Newport Beach, California. Robertson, who became the ‘million dollar man’ when his crew
won the one-off bonanza prize at the 2016 worlds, was delighted with his second title: ‘It’s fantastic to win again. The whole team, Stewart Dodson, Will Tiller and James Wierzbowski, sailed superbly to make sure I could take the boat in the direction we needed.’ Robertson, Dodson and Tiller all came out of the RNZYS Youth
Training Programme, a breeding ground of outstanding sailors since its inception more than 30 years ago. Confirming the trend, this year’s Governor’s Cup, sailed out of Balboa Yacht Club, had four crews with current or graduate members of the programme.
cockpit layouts and control systems were all proof-tested on the simulator. Now the simulator is available on a commercial basis for teams to book time and hone their skills between SailGP events. ‘It is a pretty phenomenal tool. You can set the course dimensions
and practise manoeuvres and techniques. It has most of the helm, wing trim and flight control functions. It is pretty realistic and they will keep developing it. It is definitely much better crashing the simulator at 45kt than the real thing.’ After three events the SailGP circuit has split into two clearly
dominant crews – Tom Slingsby’s Australia team and Nathan Out- teridge’s Japan team – with Great Britain, the United States, China and France all trailing. Robertson says the telling difference is foiling experience. ‘The performance will even up over time. But it is very evident that the guys with experience on these boats, particularly with wing trim, are a step ahead. ‘They have had four or five years through the America’s Cup learn-
ing about these boats, while we have stepped up from a smaller foiling cat background. It is a completely different beast. We have little experience: two of our Chinese grinders had never sailed cata- marans before, let alone experienced foiling. It is quite surreal for them and yet they have key roles in trimming the jib and wing.’ Having come out of the Dongfeng programme that won the last
Volvo Ocean Race, the grinders have good sailing skills and a solid understanding of English sailing terminology, but the frantic nature of high-speed racing on tight courses demands instinctive, split- second reactions. ‘Any delay is crippling,’ Robertson says. ‘Two seconds on these boats is a very long time. Also when you
are under pressure and racing it is extremely hard to hear, even with comms in your ear. We are talking tactics the whole way round and it can be very easy to miss key words that trigger manoeuvres and a change of positions. We are working hard on that.’ Compounding the challenge, the modifications to the F50s have
Two-time match racing world champion Phil Robertson has his hands full with China Team on the SailGP circuit. Similar to the Dongfeng Volvo programme, there is a necessary element of training up promising new Chinese crew. On Dongfeng skipper Charles Caudrelier’s task was onerous as an inexperienced crew learned to race a powerful monohull offshore, but the challenge is greater still on a volatile F50 foiling cat when manoeuvres must be executed at a few seconds’ notice. Then again, Dongfeng Race Team did ultimately win the 2017-2018 Volvo Ocean Race
Ultimately Nick Egnot-Johnson (son of former Cup helm Leslie
Egnot), with Knots Racing, claimed the title after a closely fought 3-2 win over fellow Kiwi Leonard Takahashi’s Pacific Racing. Robertson has a lot on his plate, slotting in his match racing with
his China Team role on the SailGP circuit. Following the change of ownership of the WMRT, from Swedish company Aston Harald to the Chinese group behind C-Shine Financial Corporation, the world governing body has renewed its Special Event status through to 2028. The shape of the tour under the new owners is yet to be clar- ified but Robertson believes the vision is to take it back to an earlier incarnation where clubs were more involved, utilising existing boats. This implies a return to monohulls at many of the events, although
Robertson believes multihulls and foiling will continue to feature. While his own preference is now firmly in the foiling arena he recognises that a monohull element will reopen a clearer pathway for younger match-racers to progress onto the tour. Following a short break back at his current base in Gothenburg,
Robertson was heading to London to spend two days with his F50 wing trimmer and flight controller working in the Artemis Technologies simulator as part of their preparation for the Cowes leg of the circuit. ‘Artemis developed the simulator as part of their America’s Cup programme with the AC50s. With the advent of the SailGP circuit they quickly converted it for the F50s,’ says Robertson. During the redesign of the foiling catamarans the new hardware,
26 SEAHORSE
made them faster and less stable, so that on tight courses, with tacks and gybes coming thick and fast, the crews have their hands full. ‘It is all part of the game,’ Robertson agrees, ‘but sometimes it can get frustrating not being able to let them really light up and run. It feels like we are only sailing at about 50-60 per cent of their potential a lot of the time. But we’re all starting to get the hang of it. We are beginning to see teams getting close to dry laps. I don’t think it will be too long before all the teams are on a similar level.’ Another factor that will assist this is longer on-the-water training
sessions. Originally teams were allocated only two practice days at each venue before racing. This has to do with the massive logistics involved in moving the circuit around the world. ‘It takes about two weeks from landing the containers to getting all the boats ready to sail.’ This part of the operation is managed by Brad Marsh, another graduate of the RNZYS youth programme. ‘It is a massive operation and pretty cool to see,’ Robertson admires. By agreement among the teams, starting at the Cowes event the practice sessions have now been extended to four or five days. Next year the programme is likely to see China and Japan added
to the list of venues and another crew added to the China Team line-up. ‘Part of my role is to lead the sailing team and find new talent,’ says Robertson, ‘so I will be heavily involved in the process of selecting and training a second crew. The plan is to establish training camps later this year and set about finding some good guys or girls to add the second team next year. Eventually the aim is for a SailGP Academy in China to create a pathway to the top.’ That suggests a longterm commitment to the SailGP concept.
‘We are confident it will be around for five years. And if it has proved to have traction commercially it will keep pushing on after that.’ As if that is not enough to keep him occupied Robertson is keeping
a close eye on Emirates Team NZ and would love an opportunity to help the team in their preparations to defend the America’s Cup in 2021. ‘I have had some chats. There is nothing there yet but once they get sailing the structure will change a bit, so we will see… I definitely want to be there if I can!’ Ivor Wilkins
IVOR WILKINS
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104
