Olympic hopefuls Jesse and Zander Kirkland slipped down the leaderboard at the Seiko 49er World Championships in Croatia yesterday.However, the sailing siblings remain firmly on course to qualify for the Gold fleet which will be decided following today’s final three qualifying flights off the shores of regatta hosts Sailing Club Uskok.After six qualifying flights and one drop, the Kirklands are 17th in the 74-boat 49er fleet.The local sailors endured misfortune in yesterday’s first race, contested in 10-15 knot breezes, which saw them disqualified for going across the start line early under the black flag rule.“We were over early at the start and finished fifth in the race only to find out after the finish,” skipper Jesse said.The local team were hit with a 26-point penalty for being black flagged which they promptly discarded to leave them with a total of 38 points.The Kirklands did, however, bounce back after their disastrous start in the Red fleet to keep their Olympic dream alive.“We rallied in the second race to finish fifth and in the final race we got caught on the wrong side of pressure early on and could only manage a 16,” Jesse said.Yet despite slipping down the overall leaderboard, a berth in the Gold fleet remains within the Kirkland duo’s reach.“Even after a slightly disappointing day we are still right where we want to be (top 25) with points in the fleet incredibly tight,” Jesse said. “We have been sailing well and hope to carry the momentum into tomorrow’s racing. Our goal remains to make the Gold Fleet.”Today will see the 49er fleet, that has been divided into three qualifying groups (Blue, Red and Yellow), reshuffled according to team rankings in the regatta.Once the qualifying series has concluded, the 49er fleet will be further split into the Gold (top 25 teams), Silver (teams placed 26th through 50th) and Bronze (teams 51st through 76th).The eventual top ten boats after completion of the final qualifying series will advance to Saturday’s medal race.After day one, the Kirklands, who are racing in a star-studded fleet that includes defending world champions Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen of Australia, who were third in the Blue fleet and after yesterday’s racing 24th in the Red fleet.Bermuda are currently locked in a battle with Brazil, Japan, Malta, Italy, Russia, Canada, Uruguay, Chile, Belgium, Argentina, Mexico and Greece for the five remaining Olympic slots up for grabs.Germany’s Tobias Schadewaldt and Hannes Baumann led the 49er fleet in Croatia after the opening six flights.