Final-race heartache for Kiwis

Finishing fourth at a major event is never easy, especially when a medal was within grasp, but Isaac Mchardie and William Mckenzie also know they’re not far off being among the world’s best 49er crews.

The pair went into yesterday’s top-10 medal race at the 49er, 49erfx and Nacra 17 world championships in Nova Scotia in third place, having climbed one position after the final gold fleet race.

But they struggled in a topsy-turvy medal race that saw boats go from last to first in one leg as the offshore breeze softened to 5-7 knots, finishing 10th in that race to drop to fourth overall.

‘‘We are pretty happy with the result but also gutted with how it finished up,’’ Mckenzie said.

‘‘It could have been a podium, but that’s sailing. Nothing seemed to go our way [in the medal race]. We tried to pick shifts, but they just didn’t work.

‘‘We just need to be more consistent across the range of conditions. We have areas of weakness and, if we can nail those, we are looking to be consistently up the top end of the fleet.’’

Mchardie and Mckenzie put together a series of top-10 results at international events this year, highlighted by a third at Kiel Week, and were the best placed of the Kiwis across the three fleets at these world championships.

Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn finished seventh in the 49er, illustrating the strength of New Zealand 49er sailing.

Alex Maloney and Olivia Hobbs were eighth in the 49erfx and Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson were ninth in the Nacra 17.

Jo Aleh and Molly Meech just missed out on the 49erfx medal race, finishing 11th overall to round out a series of encouraging results for the Kiwis.