“He has only got to one, and that was many moons ago back in 2012. It is not easy as we very rarely race this close to home. I think Perth was about as close as we have got in the last ten years,” said the skipper of Record Point.
Phil’s dad Kevin and his mother Cherry have journeyed from New Zealand to be at the water’s edge for racing in Queensland all weekend alongside the skipper’s partner Sara who has travelled from Gothenburg in Sweden to be at the regatta, “It is going to be great having all of them on the shore, hopefully cheering our name. It is a special moment for me no doubt.”
There should be plenty to celebrate, given the crew’s steady improvement.
The team finished at the rear in the first SuperFoiler Grand Prix event in Adelaide, before surging into contention with three top three finishes in Geelong’s opening day and will be looking to continue to challenge on the Gold Coast.
Robertson attributes part of that growth to his parents, with father Kevin following all his son’s races online and on television and the SuperFoiler series has been no different.
“It is a big learning curve this type of sailing and we are working really hard to get to the top,” said the Record Point helm, “It is nice to have eyes elsewhere and it is amazing what he can pick up from the livestream.”
While the feedback to date has been via back channels, “He hasn’t specifically come to me but some of his mates have come to me to let me know what we could be doing better,” the Match Racing World Champion is expecting more direct advice following the first race taking place a stone’s throw from Surfer’s Paradise.
Euroflex leads the SuperFoiler Grand Prix series (12 points) ahead of Pavement (9), tech2 (6), iD Intranet (6), Record Point (5) and Kleenmaid (5).
Queensland’s Gold Coast is scheduled to host three races on Friday with three more on Saturday and a final trio on Sunday.
Live streaming this weekend will be available on www.superfoiler.com