Phil Robertson: sailing’s eternal battler

to North Cape. Bellingham on Titanium pushed quite close inshore and found a significant lift in flat water.

Up ahead of them, Nathan Williams had taken a similar line, but not as close to land and kept a close watch on Titanium’s gains. “They took about 15 miles out of us on that leg to North Cape,” said Williams. “Nice for them, but a bit disappointing for us.”

Emotional Rescue took a different approach and paid a steep price for heading further offshore after Three Kings. “It was a tactical error,” Whiting admitted. “It was really rough, with the boat slamming hard in the dark, tough on board with everybody getting pretty tired.”

After all the drama offshore, the most familiar patch of water, from Rangitoto to the Harbour Bridge, was a complete contrast – slow work upwind in very light conditions.

As always, there were races within races and although the prizes go to the front-runners, there were other triumphs and moments to savour.

In the late afternoon of Sunday April 10, General Committee member Mike Malcolm texted a screen shot of the Yellow Brick tracker to friends. It showed five boats – Matewa (Charles Hollings, Xp44), Bird on the Wing (Mike Malcolm, Beneteau 50), Niksen (Marc Michel and Logan Fraser, Dehler 30), Katana (Nigel Garland, Sunfast 3600) and Kick (Brendan Sands, Elliott 1050) – sailing up the harbour together after nearly four days of racing to finish within 15 minutes of each other.

For Carl Whiting, a lifelong sailor, a Star world champion and threetime America’s Cup veteran, the run from North Cape to the Three Kings was “one of the best day’s sailing in my life”. He added, “It was very special to do that in our own backyard, on my own boat and surrounded by my friends.”

“It was amazing sailing really,” Nathan Williams agreed. “This type of long offshore racing is really good. Absolutely I think we should do it again. There is not enough of it.”

ALL PRESENT AND CORRECT: In preparation for the RNZYS Three Kings Race, Sailing Director Laurie Jury and Chairman of the Race Committee Vice Commodore Andrew Aitken initiated Category Two safety inspections of the fleet.

On-Water Safety Officer, Richard Wingfield, put together a team of Stewart Heine, Neville Collett, Bryan Taylor, Charles Scoones, Cooper Hopman and himself and conducted the inspections over two days.

“I was really impressed by the reception we got from the skippers,” says Wingfield. “I don’t know if I was half expecting some resistance, but the reality was quite the opposite. They were all enthusiastic, friendly, helpful and ready to show us anything we asked to see.”

The method was to go through the entire Category Two checklist, with the skipper verbally confirming each item and the inspectors randomly asking to physically see up to four to six of them – anchors, flares, lifejackets, buckets etc.

“It threw up one or two minor deficiencies here and there, things that could be very easily rectified,” says Wingfield. “Overall, I was impressed by the state of readiness and organisation on board.”

Everybody involved felt the exercise was useful and Wingfield feels it should be carried forward to include the whole RNZYS race fleet. “I am keen to continue engaging with skippers doing our races, just to make sure they have the right gear on board and that it is all up to date. I feel it is in everybody’s interests to do so.”

The Three Kings process might serve as a handy inspiration for all skippers – cruisers, racers, weekend warriors and launch-owners – to make a winter project of going through their safety equipment to ensure everything is present and correct.

Homeward bound, Wired sails along the northern flank of the Three Kings, with wind bullets streaking the sea surface.

Preparing for a sail change, Equilibrium on the final approach to the Three Kings.

On the edge of control ... Phil Robertson’s rookie crews are never dull, always pushing the limits. – Ricardo Pinto Photo

By Ivor Wilkins In sailing terms, Phil Robertson embodies a character treasured in New Zealand iconography as a ‘Kiwi Battler’, who refuses to admit defeat even with formidable odds stacked against them.

Nothing has come easy as he has carved out a professional career at the upper levels of international sailing. Gregarious, with a sunny smile and infectious laugh, he has bounced back from setbacks and earned a reputation for pushing hard. He is always willing to throw the dice in highrisk situations, accumulating occasional scars along the way. Never dull.

In the high-octane world of made-for-TV SailGP, which thrives on drama and spectacle, the commentators always keep a close watch on Robertson. They know that when the action moves into red line territory, Robertson and his crew are frequently in the thick of it.

There are even rumours that SailGP founder and Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison has issued an instruction that, whatever happens, Robertson needs to be kept in the game because of his entertainment value.

True or not, it is part of the persona that has developed around the 33-year-old. But a more serious appraisal suggests his true value extends beyond mere entertainment. His results show that the crash-and-burn circus clown image sells him well short.

Where the other teams come to the game with handpicked, seasoned professionals, Robertson’s SailGP career has involved taking young rookie crews – first from China and then from Spain – and building them into competitive fighting units while competing against some of the world’s best sailors in technically demanding and totally unforgiving F50 foiling catamarans.

“Sometimes I think it would be nice to just jump on a boat stacked with lots of experience and be able to focus on fine tuning race strategy instead of the big stuff like how to tack and gybe and get around the course safely,” he admits. On the other hand, he has found it rewarding and satisfying to build rookie teams into competitive racing crews at such an intense level.

The dual role of coach and skipper with the added complication of language and cultural barriers in such a split-second, knife-edge environment is, by any definition, a tall order. But, Robertson has been battling the odds for much of his sailing career.

He is the middle son of three born into a typical Auckland family, with their father building sailing dinghies in the garage. He was still a youngster sailing dinghies when New Zealand won the America’s Cup in 1995. The sight of his heroes training and winning the 2000 Defence on his home waters lit the flame of his ambition. “I could see the future. That is what I wanted to do one day.”

In some ways, the timing of Phil’s sailing journey was slightly unfortunate. He was born after the Russell Coutts, Chris Dickson, Dean Barker generation, but before the Peter Burling, Blair Tuke generation.

When he graduated from Optimists, the main route forward was 420s and 470s, neither of which excited him. “I enjoy speed, but none of the fast, cool foiling boats had arrived on the scene yet,” he told an interviewer in 2020.

He opted for a different route, joining the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s keelboat programme with its strong match racing focus. After three years with the programme, he and a bunch of fellow Youth