Sydney cousins Lisa Darmanin and Jason Waterhouse have won silver in the Mixed Nacra 17 class.

In a stunning day for NSWIS sailors, Darmanin and Waterhouse went within a whisker of claiming gold as they surged up the rankings in a dramatic medal race.

“It is a little bit bitter sweet,’’ Darmanin said.

“I am not going to lie. But we sailed an incredible medal race. We could not have done any more out there.”

After leading the competition for a large part of the qualifying series, the Australian duo went into the medal race in fourth after disappointing results in races 11 and 12.

They rebounded in style, crossing the line second in the medal race. It meant the table topping Argentinians would need to finish seventh or worse for the Australians to win the gold.

“When I crossed the line I was so relieved we had won an Olympic medal. I was so proud of Lisa and I. We sat back and thought ‘Okay, we have won a medal what colour is it going to be?” Waterhouse said.

“We looked back and saw the Argentinians coming through and we were cheering on the Italians to get past him.’’

The Argentinians finished sixth. The Australians missed out on the gold medal but just one point.

“That is probably the best finals race I have sailed in the last four years to be fair to us,’’ Waterhouse said.

“We gave ourselves a real opportunity.”

The result is the latest in a proud tradition for Australia in the catamaran class, having won five medals in the class at the Olympic Games.

“The Aussies obviously have a great multi-hulled background. They are all legends to us and they are all silver medallists. We are part of that group now. It is a bit surreal,” Darmanin said.

Defending Olympic champions Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen have given themselves every chance of winning silver in the medal race of the 49er class.

The NSWIS sailors remain in third overall but they have reduced the margin to second to just three points.

Gold appears out of reach as the New Zealand duo continued to dominate, but Outteridge and Jensens are 13 points clear of fourth, all but guaranteeing them a medal at these Games.

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