Cartagena, Columbia on Friday when he narrowly failed to hold on to his overall lead during the last three races.

After three races on the first day, Smith held a slim lead over Cor Van Holt of Curacao and defending champion Eduardo Cordero of Venezuela.

Needing to win two of the three races to secure his first title since 1994, Smith suffered a setback when he placed 11th in the first race on Friday, a result that he ultimately threw out. Cordero placed first while Van Holt was fourth.

Smith improved to seventh in the second race while Van Holt was third and Cordero fourth, which assured him the title.

That left Smith needing to win the last race to be certain of a second place finish ahead of Van Holt and he achieved that while Cordero was second and Van Holt fourth.

Cordero triumphed with 10 points after three top five finishes, with Smith second on 14 points and Van Holt third with 16 points.

It marked the fourth time that Smith had finished runner-up in the World Championships, three times to Cordero. The top three finishers are due to meet again in the CAC Championships next year.

Two other Bermuda sailors competing in the Worlds were Damion Payne and Jim Stewart. Payne finished 12th overall among the gold fleet and Stewart 14th among 42 boats in the silver fleet.