Kerikeri sailor Blair Tuke and Tauranga's Peter Burling won the silver medal at 2010 Delta Lloyd Regatta in the Netherlands at the weekend.
The Kiwis in the 49er went into Sunday's double points medal race in third position behind Delle Karth of Austria and Australia's Nathan Outteridge. They were placed second
in the race, which saw them move up to claim the silver medal.
"The wind was increasing nicely but very up and down in pressure across the course as it was blowing offshore," Burling said.
There were perfect flat-water conditions for high-speed sailing, with the skiffs reaching speeds over 20 knots downwind.
The top three placed crews battled it out on the water leading the medal race in close combat, and after working their way into second place after the first lap Burling and Tuke were on track for the silver medal.
"At the end of the second lap disaster hit the top placed Austrian boat when they capsized at the bottom mark after not being able to get their gennaker down in time," Burling said.
The Australians, Outteridge and Iain Jensen, slipped past into the lead and went on to win the medal race and the regatta with Burling and Tuke second in both the medal race and the regatta.
This is the best result for the young Kiwis who have been in the 49er together for just 18 months.
The increasing momentum of the ISAF Sailing World Cup series and the relative proximity of the 2012 Olympic Games mean that this year's Delta Lloyd Regatta has attracted a top quality fleet of 72 49er teams from 26 nations.
With 18 of the top 20 ranked boats competing in Medemblik including the reigning World Champion Outteridge - the future is looking very bright for the Kiwi crew.
Burling, who is just 19-years-old, represented New Zealand at the 2008 Olympic Games in the 470 class.
Tuke, now 20-years-old, has an ISAF Youth World medal and the Splash World title in his sailing resume. He was also the 2009 Northland Sportsman of the year.
