Phil Robertson led the rookie Canadian team in season three of SailGP. Photo / Canada SailGP Team
Phil Robertson led the rookie Canadian team in season three of SailGP. Photo / Canada SailGP Team
Alinghi Red Bull Racing have brought another Kiwi into their coaching ranks in their bid to dethrone Team New Zealand in next year’s America’s Cup regatta.
Phil Robertson has joined the Swiss syndicate as match-racing training gets under way, with the team beginning a block of two-boat testing on theirAC40s this week.
A two-time match-racing world champion, Robertson adds another knowledgeable eye to the sailing advisory team; one of two new additions alongside Australian Jason Waterhouse.
Robertson is the second Kiwi sailor to be recruited to help train the Swiss team ahead of their Barcelona campaign, with Dean Barker already helping to guide the team with Italian sailor Pietro Sibello.
Barker and Sibello joined the syndicate early in its campaign after being involved in onboard roles in the 36th edition of the Cup in Auckland — Barker was at the helm of the New York Yacht Club’s American Magic and Sibello a mainsail trimmer with Prada Cup winners and America’s Cup finalists Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.
The Swiss team are also being mentored by Kiwi Brad Butterworth, who sailed to America’s Cup glory with Team New Zealand (1995, 2000) and Alinghi (2003, 2007).
Alinghi Red Bull Racing have started match-race training with their two AC40s. Photo: Samo Vidic/Alinghi Red Bull Racing
Robertson adds his match-racing and foiling expertise to the frame, having been involved as a helmsman in all three seasons of SailGP to date, with Waterhouse also being heavily involved in SailGP as a member of the three-time champion Australian team.
It will be Robertson’s second involvement with the Barcelona event as he has also been called upon to help Sweden’s “Wings” women’s match racing team for their campaign in the Women’s America’s Cup.
The first entry for the 37th edition of the Cup that was not on the starting line in Auckland in 2021, the Swiss have wasted little time in trying to bring themselves up to speed with the new look America’s Cup sailing on foiling monohulls.
The syndicate bought Team New Zealand’s first edition AC75 Te Aihe early in their campaign, making the most of a training window for new teams to come to grips with the radical vessel and begin their development for the design of their new boat. Teams can only launch one new AC75 during this cycle, heightening the importance of the design and development stage of the campaign.
Turning their attention to their two-boat testing, Alinghi have taken advantage of geographical advantages and are running their current training block at the race venue in Barcelona, not only getting data on the boats themselves but also a good idea of the conditions they will face next year.
“The dynamic of training with two boats will enable us to build more consistency within the crew and we will be able to train for the specific situations that we’ll encounter on the water this autumn during the pre-regattas,” Alinghi trimmer Yves Detrey said of the training block.
The “pre-regattas” are fast approaching, with all six America’s Cup teams set to descend on the waters of Vilanova i La Geltrú in Spain, about 50km from Barcelona, in mid-September. That regatta, and the second preliminary event in Saudi Arabia in late November, will be contested on AC40s, with the final preliminary regatta in Barcelona in August next year being raced on AC75s.
