The third season of the SailGP will have even more Kiwi talent involved with New Zealand yachtsman Phil Robertson hired to lead new entry Canada.
Robertson, a match racing world champion, has been named as the driver for the Canadian entry ahead of the new season of series.
It comes after two seasons of guiding other emerging teams already, having led China to a podium finish in the inaugural competition before he wraps up his current campaign with Spain - who sit fourth currently - next month.
“We not only have the ambitious task of building a team from scratch, with little to no experience of this kind in Canada, but we also have the goal to be competitive against the best teams in the world,” Robertson, a three-time world match racing champion, said.
“The first step for us is to build a solid sailing squad, from there we will develop everyone’s knowledge of foiling and then start to work on the specific skills required to sail an F50.
“Broad sailing experience is key however, there is nothing out there that can truly prepare you to race an F50. So that is what we’ll be focusing on in the coming months. It’s a very exciting project to be part of.”
Next month's finale is set to take place in San Francisco from March 26-27 with the top three nations set to face off in a winner-takes-all final for the crown.
The final will be between Australia [Tom Slingsby], the United States [Jimmy Spithill] and Japan [Nathan Outteridge] who have managed to eke out an unassailable lead from the other five teams, including New Zealand's entry led by Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.
Season three then starts two months later in Bermuda.
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