Rio Olympic sailors Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin race off with Australia’s sole medal in Miami

SAILING cousins Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin have saved the day for Australia at the first World Cup of the year in Miami.

SAILING cousins Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin have saved the day for Australia at the first World Cup of the year with the pair racing off with Australia’s lone medal in Miami.

Two of the least experienced sailors in the Australia team, the Nacra skiff duo finished with a silver medal at one of the major lead-in regattas to this year’s Rio Olympics.

While the pair could have won gold with a better result in their final outing of the regatta on Sunday, the silver is still a shot of confidence to the pair, who have already qualified for their first Olympics, ahead of their world championships in a fortnight.

“We’re really gelling as a team and it gives us confidence going into the World. It’s a good way to start 2016,’’ said Darmanin.

While gold medal favourites Mat Belcher and Will Ryan were absent from the regatta, other Rio Olympic medal contenders failed to fire in Miami.

Cousins Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin racing in France last year.

Reigning 49er skiff gold medallists Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen notched a 10th in their final race to finish a disappointing eighth overall.

“It wasn’t a very good race for us today. We had an outside chance of getting into third going into the race,’’ Jensen said.

The Sydney pair have already been pre-selected for the Olympics.

In the Laser class, where Australia has yet to pick a sailor to race in Rio, Perthy’s Matt Wearn finished fifth with his major rival, Tom Burton, coming home in 13th place

Finn sailor Jake Lilley from Queensland claimed a fourth in the single-handed racing with the new pairing of Hayley Outteridge and Nina Curtis the best performed women in the new FX class which will debut in Rio with their 13th place.

.