There may yet be some silverware, but New Zealand sailing team director Jez Fanstone is "vastly disappointed" with the nearly-but-not-quite performance at the Olympic test event in Weymouth.
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke were sailing overnight in the 49er class and well placed for a possible bronze medal, but, regardless of that result Fanstone concedes the regatta overall was not good enough.
"We came here to show our intent leading into next year. We were close but not quite there. It has been a massive learning curve and we will be undertaking a robust debrief."
The biggest disappointment was in the Laser class. Andrew Murdoch had been in first place going into the medal race yesterday, but got it all wrong to finish seventh and complete an unlikely freefall down to fourth.
"It was a light, shifty day, at the shiftiest course of the venue and the Laser class is notoriously tight," says Fanstone. "Having said that, with another chance Andrew may have looked to take a different approach and sailed a bit more conservatively. He is absolutely gutted that he didn't convert and it is all about performing under pressure. He is disappointed in himself but will learn a lot from this."
