Kiwi SailGP star Phil Robertson has played down suggestions that he might join Team New Zealand for their America's Cup campaign, saying there was "not much" to conversations with members of the team.
Robertson, who heads the Canadian SailGP outfit, garnered plenty of attention early in the SailGP season ashe drove his crew to podium finishes in the first two events. It was a big surprise, given this is the Canadian team's first season in the competition.
It's Robertson's third campaign, after sailing in season one with China and season two with Spain, and his abilities on the foiling F50 catamaran are well-proven. With plenty of Team New Zealand talent involved in the nation's SailGP team as well, the parties often converse but Robertson says while he would love an opportunity to compete in the Cup, conversation is all there is to it.
"It's not much, just speculation, I guess," Robertson said. "I'm really close with all the Kiwi team in SailGP and the guys that are involved in Team New Zealand as well. We're always talking and I'm always happy to keep that relationship strong. They're rivals on the racecourse, but definitely mates as soon as you're on land, and it hasn't really gotten much further than that.
"I think the Cup is something pretty special. It's a pretty unique competition in all sports and something that has always been a passion of mine to compete in and still is. To be honest, SailGP is in such a cool phase at the moment and to be involved in that is a dream come true. To be racing in that series under the Canadian flag even is something quite cool.
"The Cup's always in the back of my mind, and I'm sure one day I'll put a full run in towards it."
Canada SailGP team helmed by Phil Robertson nearly capsize during the French SailGP event. Photo / Supplied
Robertson is somewhat disadvantaged in his desire to compete in the America's Cup by the nationality rules and him having lived in Europe for the past decade.
But while living outside of New Zealand may make it tougher to find a way to link up with a team - Team New Zealand being his only option as 100 per cent of race crews must be a passport holder of the country the team's yacht club as at 19 March 2021 or to have been physically present in that country for two of the previous three years prior to 18 March 2021 - Robertson says it is a decision that he believes is necessary to capitalise on for more opportunities as a professional sailor.
"I'm a real advocate of it. I wish I did it earlier, and I see some young guys trying to do it now," he says.
"If you're based in New Zealand, it really limits your opportunities, unfortunately. But what it also does is it gives you a greater hunger and you see that in a lot of Kiwis; when you have to commit to traveling 30 hours to go and race and compete, you put your heart and soul into it.
"You see a lot of the Europeans that grew up here, they're kind of spoilt in the fact that they have massive competitions a six-hour drive away every weekend. We don't really get that."
While living in Sweden does limit his opportunities to get back to New Zealand, Robertson was looking forward to being able to get home and compete in the first-ever SailGP event in New Zealand, with the series heading to Christchurch in March. There is plenty of excitement for the event, with tickets selling out within a day of tickets going on sale.
In the three events before then, in Dubai, Singapore, and Australia, Robertson was hoping to see the Canadian side return to the heights at which they began the season. After a dream start, the series has seen a wide range of tricky conditions. That has been great for the development of his rookie team, but not so great for their results.
"We've come a little bit unstuck, as was expected, once the conditions got a little more difficult ... We've had a mix of conditions now and built up a lot of IP on how to sail the boat in all sorts of conditions. I feel pretty confident the team will be in really good shape for the next few events.
"It's kind of funny. My first season, I was doing a lot of learning myself. The second season I still had so much to learn and, to be honest, I still do, but I had a really young Spanish team and I really took on the role of teacher and mentor in that team.
"This team is slightly different; the team is a lot more mature and everyone's very professional, so it's less of teacher in this one and it's probably my first time sailing these boats that I can actually really focus on myself and performing better myself. It's a nice place to be."
