Phil Robertson reports from the Korea Match Cup qualifiers

Phil Robertson, the young up-and-coming kiwi match racer and his crew of Garth Ellingham (Mainsheet/Tactics), James Williamson (Trim), Sam Bell (pit) and Matt Randle (bow) are in Gyeonggi, Korea, taking part in the Korea Match Cup qualifier. As its name implies, the winner of the event will pocket an invite for the Korea Match Cup, one of the this year's ten World Match Racing Tour events.

They went through the round robin with 10 wins in 11 races, having succumbed only to Finland's Olli-Pekka Lumijärvi. As a result, they shared the top of the leaderboard with William Tiller, another very young and promising New Zealand match racer, but qualified first on the countback. Surprisingly, they picked Lumijärvi as their adversary for the best-of-five semifinal and they are now tied with one win each. The other semifinal is a purely kiwi affair with Tiller facing Laurie Jury. This match is tied as well, so Sunday will most probably see very close and tight races.

This endless stream of new and young New Zealand sailors never ceases to amaze me. It also the reason why I strongly doubt there will be any strict nationality rules in the America's Cup any time soon.

Phil Robertson reports on Day 3 of the Korea Match Cup qualifiers. Gyeonggi, 8 May 2010. Video copyright / Waka Racing