Bermuda sailor Kalin Hillier capped his debut at the NatWest Island Games by securing a place on the medal podium.The teenagerr won the bronze in the Laser Radial Rig and with better fortune could’ve walked away with the gold.Hillier won the final race in light and shifty conditions in the Great Sound and appeared to have done enough to clinch the top spot.But in a cruel twist of fate the 18-year Dalhousie University student was judged to have gone over the line early at the start and was served with a 19-point penalty.That forced him to count the eighth he had scored in the penultimate race towards his overall tally which enabled Aland’s Markus Ronnberg to take the gold medal instead.Ronnberg topped the leaderboard after throwing out his worst score (ninth). He ended the regatta six points clear of nearest rivals Bleddyn Mon (Ynys Mon) and local pair Brett Wright and Hillier who all finished tied with 31 points.After all was said and done, Mon won the silver and Hillier the bronze on a countback.Hillier admitted allowing the gold medal to slip through his fingers was a bitter pill to swallow.“It hit me quite hard and I wish I would’ve got the gold medal,” he said. “I felt I sailed a good regatta overall but just had a little bit of tough luck on the last day.“Deep down I won the race but the scoreline says I’m over. But it was a good race and fun and winning the bronze at my first Island Games is not bad.”Hillier underlined his potential after producing five top five finishes during the regatta that included two bullets“Kalin is a very good sailor and he should be very proud of winning the bronze,” said Bermuda team-mate Wright. “I think he was a little disappointed he didn’t get the silver.“But he should be very proud to do that well first time at that age.”In the Laser Standard Rig Bermuda’s Malcolm Smith came up short in his medal bid.The veteran sailor finished fourth overall while team-mate Rockal Evans was sixth.Eifion Mon (Ynys Mon) won the gold medal in the Laser Standard Rig, Niklas Areschoug (Aland) took the silver and Dyfrig Mon (Ynys Mon) the bronze.Bermuda’s only other sailing medal arrived in the team event which saw the hosts claim the silver. Ynys Mon won the gold while Aland seized the bronze.Wright said Bermuda’s Island Games sailors could hold their heads high.“I think our achievement is something we can definitely be proud of,” he added. “The closeness of the Laser Radial with second, third and fourth finishing with the same points and everything decided on countback shows just how close the racing was.“We’ve had all the top people here who have won in previous events so we have had a lot of very good sailors here. So silver in the team event just shows where we are and we’ve probably been the most consistent team for the last four Games.”* Bermuda’s Alex Jones won the bronze medal in Sailboarding event.Jones finished with 55 pts to beat out Bernat Coll (Menorca) for the third and final spot on the podium.Andrew Petts (Cayman Islands) won the gold medal while silver went to Pierre Le Page of Guernsey.Jersey (386) won the gold medal in the Sailboarding team event, Bermuda (410) claimed the silver while Guernsey (480) took the bronze.