Brothers Jesse and Zander Kirkland made an inauspicious start to their Olympic campaign in the electrifying 49er skiff in Weymouth Bay yesterday.A DNF (did not finish) in the opening race and another disappointing 19th in the second undermined any chance the Bermudian sailors had of making a bright start to the Olympic regatta.In a cruel twist of fate, the rich form the brothers have enjoyed lately eluded them on a perfect day for racing to leave them anchored at the bottom of the 20-boat fleet and pondering what might've been had the sailing gods been more generous.To some extent, the Kirklands' downfall was self-inflicted and they must now quickly figure out a way to turn their fortunes around if they are to make it past the first hurdle at these Games.“Obviously it was a real difficult day and a tough way to start an Olympic event,” said crewman Zander. “Personally, there were just a little bit of Olympic jitters but I think Jesse was fine on the back of the boat.”Things appeared promising for the Kirklands after they made a clean start in the opening race, sailed in shifty 12-15 knot breezes in Weymouth Bay in front of thousands of spectators seated on the famous Nothe (ticketed spectator area).However, they found themselves at the lower end of the fleet after being forced away from the layline by a rival boat near the windward mark.Thanks to a solid downwind run, though, the brothers managed to make up considerable ground to round the bottom marker in the middle of the pack.But just when it seemed the Kirklands had seized the momentum the halyard knot tied atop their sail came undone, leaving them dead in the water with no way back into the race.Crew Zander took full blame for the unfortunate mishap.“The halyard knot that is tied to the top of the sail slipped,” he painfully recalled. “I tied it so it was fully my responsibility.“I tied it just like I have countless times and checked it, but it failed at the worst time.”The race committee slightly altered the course ahead of the second race after the winds shifted slightly. And after making the necessary repairs the Kirklands got off to an even better start in the second race but failed to build on it throughout the remainder of the six-leg race.Often the brothers found themselves on the wrong end of some huge shifts which put them at a disadvantage.“We are sailing in a hard, shifty venue and it's hard to find a good line out there,” Zander said. “We also think the rig setting wasn't quite where we wanted it today.“Sometimes we had scratch speed with the fleet, but we never felt we had the jump on anybody at any time.”Despite the disappointing start to the regatta, the brothers did show glimpses of the potential that's brought them this far.“The start in the last race was pretty good and we also sailed a couple of decent beats that we can be happy about,” Zander said. “We know we can do better than we did today.“We've spent plenty of time in this breeze and we know we can go faster. Hopefully we can show up tomorrow with a clearer head and fire away two keepers.”Denmark's Allan Norregaard and Peter Lang are the current leaders in the 49er fleet.In third is four-time 49er world champions Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen who were uncharacteristically among a handful of boats that went over the line early in the opening race.Racing continues today in nearby Portland Harbour.