Zander and Jesse Kirkland moved up in the standings in the Rolex 49er Miami Olympic Class Regatta yesterday after three more races.

During the opening day's racing on Monday on Biscayne Bay, the Bermudian brothers finished in 34th and 22nd place and also failed to complete the third race placing them in 31st place among the 37 boat fleet.

But yesterday the Kirklands finished in 17th, 18th and 28th place to move up to 27th overall.

Zander said of the opening day's racing against some of the best 49er sailors in the world: "The breeze was between 12 and 18 knots – and perhaps some higher gusts at times."

He said the weather was such that the majority of the Olympic classes failed to go out – in fact only the Laser Radials and the 49er classes managed to compete.

Of race one, he said: "We had a solid start at the favoured end battling it out with the Kiwi and top French team, but ran into trouble shortly after the gun because we had trouble getting into upwind speed mode.

"This is something we are working on and slowly improving. Having said that, we were still in good shape after we tacked out because of the favourable current and smaller chop on the left side. We rounded the winward mark in solid shape – in the upper teens – and bombed down the run, only to flip on the gybe."

Zander added that the two ran into trouble on the gybe because he failed to over sheet the spinnaker.

"It was extremely frustrating to watch all the competitors who were behind us zoom by on the run."

Of race two the brothers said they had a race very similar to the first one, "except that we didn't flip and ended up with a respectable 22nd. We beat some good Danes and Americans. We were fired up and looking forward to the third race of the day."

However during that third race they ran into trouble.

"We looked good right up to the start and then botched our acceleration because of mistimed harness clip ins and main trim. We need more practice, but we are getting closer! We got back in the groove a third of the way up the beat and were in the mid 20s when our jib sheet blocks ripped out of spinnaker launcher and our race was done."

Zander added: "We are slowly getting more comfortable sailing the boat harder on the runs in breeze and are getting lower on the wire than before.

"On the upwinds, we have noticed that the top sailors don't as aggressively trim the mainsheet as me. I hope this feel will come with time because our boat is not as stable as it could be and it will also help me conserve some energy, so I can have some energy to manage the kite on the run. I also need to get fitter to make it through the whole race without compromising the boat's performance."

After the second day's racing and five races (one throw out) the 49er fleet is being led by first-day leaders Will and Sam Phillips from Australia with the French team of Manu Dyen and Stephane Christidis second while the Finish team of Lauri Lehtinen and Kalle Bask are in third place.