She powered away in the ski and won comfortably.
“What a way to finish the competition,” New Zealand Surf Life Saving high-performance manager Tanya Hamilton said.
“Danielle and Cory have worked incredibly hard over the years as Black Fins and their commitment to deliver has been phenomenal.
“The grit and determination they've shown is brilliant. They have led by example here.”
Max Beattie (Omanu) finished third in the board. Midway's Olivia Corrin was fifth in the women's ski.
Taylor also won the bronze medal in the men's surf race, and the New Zealand team took the silver in the final event on the programme, the mixed ocean lifesaver relay contested by Michael Hanna (Waikanae), Corrin, Beattie and McKenzie.
On the final day of competition in the pool for the Junior Black Fins, Jack Keepa from Kaiaponi Farms Waikanae added another silver medal to the team tally in the 100-metre manikin carry with fins.
Keepa was just 0.5 of a second away from the gold medal.
His swim was the highlight of the day for the Junior Black Fins in the pool.
He went into the final as the fourth-fastest qualifier, starting in Lane 6. He put together a flawless performance to finish just behind Italy's Davide Cremonini in a final dominated by Northern Hemisphere swimmers.
Zoe Crawford (Mairangi Bay) was fourth in the women's final of the same event.
On Saturday, Day 5 of the championships, the highlight for the open team on the beach at Riccione was undoubtedly the gold medal win to the men's tube rescue team of Midway's Chris Dawson and Cory Taylor with Omanu's Max Beattie and Mairangi Bay's Fergus Eadie.
They led the race until the Aussies closed it up in the final 50 metres, and then won in a thrilling run up the beach.
Dawson got off the beach like he'd been shot out of a canon, dolphin-diving halfway to the cans and gave Kent a handy lead heading in to rescue him.
On their way back to the beach, the Kiwis and Australians were neck and neck coming into the final stages.
Stunning skills saw the Black Fins gain the advantage when Kent released the tube strap moments earlier than his Australian rival to send Eadie and Taylor charging to the beach with Dawson in hand to claim victory.
“That was a special race,” high-performance manager Hamilton said.
“The skill on show plus the tactics and the absolute effort by all of the boys were just phenomenal. We're all so proud of what they've done.”
A gutsy effort by Midway's Corrin saw her take the silver medal in the women's board race final, behind Australian ironwoman legend Harriet Brown.
It was Corrin's first individual world medal and she was “super-stoked”.
The Kiwis also snared silvers in the ocean relay (taplin), with Corrin and Briana Irving (Waikanae) in the women's team and Taylor, Dawson, Hanna and Beattie in the men's.
In the women's race Danielle McKenzie set a solid platform from the start, leading the field around the ski leg before handing over to Corrin on board, who maintained the Kiwis' lead sending swimmer Molly Shivnan (Omanu) in ahead of Australia's Lani Pallister, an Australian Commonwealth Games champion swimmer.
Pallister surged into first place, leaving the Black Fins to settle for second in an incredibly hard-fought race.
The men's taplin was another brilliant showing as the Kiwis and Australians battled side by side to the finish.
In the women's tube rescue, McKenzie, Corrin, Shivnan and Natalie Peat (Papamoa) combined for fourth place.
The junior team maintained their second position on the points table as a result of Saturday's racing, with Zoe Crawford from Mairangi Bay, formerly from Gisborne, again their standout performer in the pool.
Their best team performance on the day was a fourth in the 4x50m medley relay, with Waikanae's Summer Rolston in the team.
The open Black Fins finished with six gold medals, 11 silver and six bronze.
“There were lots of really amazing performances across the six days of open competition,” Hamilton said.
“We welcomed new Black Fins to the world stage and saw some of our more accomplished campaigners still standing on the top of the podium.
“With the next world champs only two years away on the Gold Coast we will take a bit of time off and then get back into planning for the next campaign.”
The junior team finished with three gold medals, eight silver and four bronze.
“The Junior Black Fins are the future of the sport for New Zealand,” Hamilton said.
“There will be members of this team who are likely to be part of the Black Fins in the next world champs.
“The learning they will take from this campaign will be impossible to put a value on. They'll be much better athletes for the experience.
“We saw some impressive performances here and the team can be very proud of that.”
