Phil robertson

Phil Robertson became our True Ambassador in 2018. He originates from New Zealand but now has a Swedish partner and spends the majority of his downtime in Gothenburg. He made his debut on the professional sailing scene in 2009 as a competitor on the World Match Racing Tour. Since then, he has won the World Match Racing Championships twice and the Match Cup Sweden in Marstrand three times. From 2012 onwards, Phil competed frequently in the Extreme Sailing Series. More recently he has been involved in both SailGP as a helmsman and the America’s Cup. This season he puts all efforts into the Moth – an extreme dinghy and arguably one of the most competitive fleets in the world.

Phil has been sailing with his family more or less from day one. He started to race competitively from the age of 10. He remembers Auckland sailing community with warmth.

“It was a lot of fun. Every kid in New Zealand does a sailing course called Water Wise when they are 11 or 12 years old. You learn about the water and safety around the water, and within that you also learn sailing Optimist. I managed to teach my class that lesson. The course actually hooks a lot of kids into the sport.”

Phil went from Optimist and P Class to building a New Zealand dinghy design called Starling for 16 to 18 year olds with his dad. The Olympic path way did not attract. Instead Phil chose Yacht Squadron’s Match Racing Program and was instantly hooked.

“We sailed Elliot 6 Saturday and Sundays, and maybe one evening in the week. We were there early in the morning to late in the afternoon; did a bunch of fleet races, 10 boats, three people in each boat, four months of the year. The rest was match racing. We also managed to get away and race in international events. It was a really cool program that lasted three years and taught me a lot.”

Phil is an active person. He likes to do practical things. And the water is his playground. He loves anything on and in the water.

“You could think that I would get sick of it but the perfect holiday for me is on a yacht. I like to explore. It´s cool to see how foiling has changed all sorts of water sports and marine activities. The foiling world is just exploding in every area. The feeling I get from a kitefoil or a Moth can be translated to much bigger boats like F50 or AC75. You feel everything so much more on smaller platforms. That’s how I build my understanding and feeling.”

This season Phil puts all his efforts into Moth sailing.

“Moth is a development class. You have a box rule and there are a few parameters you can work with. I would say it’s the most relevant dinghy that you can sail by yourself since it’s so relevant to the skills you need sailing today’s big and fast foiling boats.

Looking back at the sailing career Phil is probably proudest of his World Champion titles in Match Racing, a goal he set when he was just 20 years old.

“To achieve a goal, you put a long time ago is special. It’s cool to win, but what it really does is validate all the work and effort you put together in the program. It also demonstrates that you done all the bits and pieces better than everyone else. As an induvial athlete the only one to blame is yourself, when you do it as a team, it’s so much more complicated to structure, form and build the program. That’s something to be proud of.”

Phil is part of the development of Pelle P's sailing clothing, which always strives to deliver optimal comfort and performance at sea.

“What I really like about Pelle P is that they cover everything in my lifestyle in terms of clothing. If I go to the golf course I’ve got golf gear, if I go running in the forest in the middle of winter I got clothes for that and if it’s summer I´ve got a kit for that. On the water, Pelle P sort of do everything that I´m into. My favorite item right now is the new Propulsion Sweater with long sleeves. Super nice stretch, fabric feels really good on the skin, and the active look suits me quite well. I´m a huge fan.”