Jesse and Zander Kirkland hailed the best performances of their career as the brothers finished 25th out of 39 sailors to cap off a memorable week at The Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik, Holland.The duo added to their opening two days of sailing with three top 20 finishes to jump up the leaderboard on the final day.After enduring a terrible time on the first day, recording a Did Not Start (DNS) and a Did Not Come to Starting Area (DNC) along with a 25th, the brothers responded with 29th, 15th and 16th place finishes in their three races on the second day to leave themselves sitting 32nd in the fleet of 39.The final day of competition saw them grab an eighth to go along with two 17ths to finish a gruelling week in less than ideal conditions.“We are coming off our best event to date in the 49er in a competition that was an ISAF Grade One event and was attended by 21 countries from around the world,” said Zander.“It was a windy event where there were real consequences for mistakes. One of our Canadian friends broke their mast on the last day and our American training partner almost broke his ankle on day two in a capsize.“We found we had good speed in the big breeze and it enabled us to focus more on the racing aspect of the game a breakthrough for us in these conditions.“As we smooth out our boat handling work, we will hope to look at our big breeze sailing as a potent weapon in our arsenal.”The hard work put in by the duo now seems to be reaping dividends as they continue their build-up to next year’s London Olympics.Their recent results in France and Spain, they said were only ‘mediocre’.Next up for the brothers is a competition scheduled to be held at the location of 2012 Olympics that will contain world champions and Olympic gold medal contenders.“The hard work and humility that we have exhibited over the last 18 months is paying off as we look to continue to work our way up the fleet,” said Zander.“It doesn’t get any easier from here but we are excited about the direction of our sailing.“With 15 months until the London Olympics, we feel we are on track to reach the world class standard and qualify for the Games.“Next up for us is the Sail For Gold Regatta in Weymouth, the venue for next year’s Olympics.“It will be the best attended ISAF Grade One event on the tour because all of the top sailors will be there gaining knowledge on the site.“The fleet (65 boats) will be full of Olympians, world champions and sailors hoping to qualify for London 2012.”