Bermuda Sailing Association (BSA) president Tim Patton has mixed feelings over the break-up of 49er duo Jesse and Zander Kirkland.The brothers dropped a bombshell after bowing out of the 2012 Summer Olympics in the UK earlier this week when they announced a decision to go their separate ways and put their high performance dinghy, Cahow, up for sale.Zander, the elder of the two brothers, has quit sailing in the 49er and ruled out qualifying for future Olympics while Jesse plans to take a rest from competing in the skiff.News of the team’s break-up caught many by surprise, including veteran Etchell sailor Patton.The BSA president, who competed at this year’s Etchell World Championships Down Under, said he was saddened to see Zander step away from the 49er but delighted that his younger brother was pondering another shot at qualifying for the Olympics.“This (team’s break-up) is a bit of a surprise to me,” Patton said. “but I have been thinking for a while that Zander is 29 years-old and at some point he’s got to get a real job and all that stuff. You just can’t campaign at the level they have been campaigning at and also hold down a real job.“Zander is a great guy who has put his heart and soul into it. He really put in a great effort and deserves a huge amount of credit.”Once he returns from a lengthy break, skipper Jesse will find a suitable replacement for his brother and possibly launch a bid to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.“I think it’s a fantastic thing that Jesse is going to keep going on,” Patton said. “He has huge talent and I hope he can find somebody to team up with to keep this thing going because certainly the momentum was going in the right direction.“We have some very wonderful and talented young people in Bermuda that could join up with Jesse who I think is very capable of representing Bermuda at the Olympics again.“I think skiff sailing has a bright future in Bermuda because we have so many talented kids coming out of the Optimist programme who want to do something and the skiffs are a lot of fun, are very fast and are exciting boats to sail,” he said. “We presently have the 29er and they are a great training ground for people getting into skiff sailing. There is certainly some interest in skiff sailing in Bermuda.”The Kirklands blew hot and cold on their Olympic debut in Weymouth and Portland.They demonstrated flashes of brilliance with four top ten finishes. But as many DNFs in the early stages of the regatta torpedoed the brothers’ chances of reaching the medal race, they eventually had to settle for second last.Despite failing to meet the team’s expectations, Patton said the Kirklands still did Bermuda sailing proud and had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of sentiments echoed by many.“From my observation they were very close to being very competitive,” he said. “The races they were competitive in they were very competitive, so I think they were just shy of being at the top of the heap.“But they absolutely did Bermuda sailing proud even though they have only been in the boat for a very short time.”n Demark’s Allan Norregaard and Peter Lang clinched the bronze medal in the 49er at the Olympics yesterday.The Danes finished third in the medal race which was enough to claim a spot on the podium.Going into the race there were as many as six teams in contention for the bronze medal, including British pair Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes.Both the gold and silver medals were decided after the final two fleet races earlier in the week.Australia’s Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen won the gold while New Zealand’s Peter Burling and Blair Tuke won the silver.