SailGP: Canada Suffers Tech Issues at Australian Event

Mar 14, 2024

It was a day to forget for the Canadian SailGP team. Hydraulic pump issues for Phil Robertson’s Canada team saw them finish last in the opening race and then, despite the best efforts to get them sailing again, the technical issue meant they couldn’t compete in the rest of the day’s racing.

An electrical failure occurred on the Canadian F50 at the start of race one and caused all systems onboard to shut down.  With no hydraulics, the team was unable to compete and missed out on the opportunity to put valuable points on the board on Saturday.  Despite that the fact the technical failure was no fault of the team, the league does not offer any form of redress, leaving the Canadians at the bottom of the event leaderboard.

The SailGP engineers and tech team worked late into Saturday evening to diagnose and repair the problem, to get the team’s F50 SPIRIT back on the racecourse on Sunday.

Day two offered up near perfect conditions for the fleet with the 24M wings up and high-speed foils.  As always, starts were critical and without that critical piece, Canada suffered in race four, finishing 8th.  The team got into the groove in the final race on Day 2, with a near perfect start in race five and Flight Controller Billy Gooderham delivering 100% flight time around the course. Canada picked up an impressive second, but by then it was too late.

Robertson ‘furious’

After withdrawing on Saturday, Canadian driver, Phil Robertson, said: “We started to lose hydraulic functions at the start of the first race on Day 1. Starting with the jib and then the foil function and then the wing functions until nothing was working so it’s really disappointing. We still don’t know what the problem is but hopefully they will have a good look at it and we will be able to sail tomorrow.

I am actually pretty furious. You come here promised a boat to race with – we are not allowed to touch the boat – and when you don’t get a boat that’s race ready you have to ask questions. It’s really disappointing and there is no redress but we have to suck it up, take it on the chin and move on.”