Phil Robertson Wins the 2010 Knickerbocker Cup; Taylor Canfield Wins the Trifecta

by Andrea Watson

Phil Robertson, Waka Racing (NZL) and his crew of Garth Ellingham, Sam Bell and James Williamson, have won the 2010 Knickerbocker Cup and win an automatic entry into the Argo Gold Cup, one of the stops on the World Match Racing Tour. Manhasset Bay Commodore and Knickerbocker Cup PRO, Sue Miller, and Ted Weisberg, Manhasset Bay YC member and a Director of both the Match Racing Association (MRA) and the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) were on hand to present the team with their award and the invitation to the Argo Gold Cup.

Taylor Canfield, Team ISV, (ISV) with crew members Matt Clark, Tod Reynolds and Dave Shriner won the first ever East Coast Trifecta, a series of three Grade 2 back-to-back match racing events at the CMRC Chicago Cup, the Toyota International Match Race for the Detroit Cup and the Knickerbocker Cup. Kirk Brown, Umpire and representative from the Congressional Cup, Long Beach YC was on hand to give Canfield his invitation to the event to be held in March, 2011. Canfield, who had already left the event to get back to school, had this to say, “It is an honor to be the first winner of the Trifecta. Thank you to the crew for all three events. Thanks to all the competitors and the race management at all three clubs for making this available in the United States. This will be my second Grade 1 event. I will be doing the Bermuda Gold Cup in Oct, so I am looking forward to coming to Long Beach YC and the Congressional Cup.”

As predicted, the wind conditions on Sunday on Manhasset Bay were dismal. One match early morning between Robertson and Tiller was pivotal for Robertson. He had lost his match against countryman William Tiller, Full Metal Jacket Racing, (NZL) on Saturday and needed the wind to fill in enough to complete at least one more match. It did, Robertson won the match, and ultimately the Cup as the wind never filled in and all racing was abandoned at 3:30 pm.

When asked what strategy he used to win this year’s Cup, after losing to Rueben Corbett and Dave Perry last year, he said, “The biggest strategy was always being in a position to win – getting ahead early on. The breeze here is so unpredictable; you need to win the Full Round Robin because you never know what the wind will be.”

Robertson, who has been to the Knickerbocker Cup three times, knows the Colgate 26s really well, and is familiar with local conditions on western Long Island Sound in late August. Robertson continued, “We had a bit more passion this year because when we lost to Dave Perry last year it was gut wrenching because we thought we could beat him. Passion and determination... that was the difference this year.”

Thomson Reuters is a major sponsor of the 2010 Knickerbocker Cup. The world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, Thomson Reuters combines industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets.

The Colgate 26 is the official boat of the 2010 Knickerbocker Cup.

Knickerbocker Cup FINAL RESULTS:

1. Phil Robertson (NZL) Waka Racing
2. Eugeniy Neugodnikov (RUS) Synergy
3. Bill Hardesty (USA) LineHonors.com
4. William Tiller (NZL) Full Metal Jacket Racing
5. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) Gus
6. Taylor Canfield (ISV) Team ISV
7. Sally Barkow (USA) Team 7 Racing
8. Dave Perry (USA) Team Perry
9. Sergey Musikhin (RUS) Rusteam
10. Henrique Haddad (BRA) GIGA
11. Reuben Corbett (NZL) Black Sheet Racing
12. Nicolai Sehested (DEN) TRE-FOR Match Racing

East Coast Trifecta FINAL RESULTS:

Taylor Canfield (ISV) Team ISV

Knickerbocker Cup