Don't phone home ET

French sailor penalised in Mini Transat for mobile phone infringement

The final results from leg one of the Mini Transat have had revised since a meeting of the protest committee headed by Michel Girard yesterday.

While this has not affected any of the leaders, Yann Delplace on Ville de Nice Conseil Général des Alpes Maritimes has been relegated to last place when he was found guilty of opening the sealed box containing his mobile phone while in the northwest of Spain, contrary to rules R-14-b and c. The former of these specifies that 'VHF is the only communication system authorised aboard during the events (mobile phone, satellite phone, computer...are strictly forbidden). Delplace was penalised by given the same time as the last place boat, with an additional 24 hours added.

Having finished in 7 days 18 hours 14 minutes, Delplace's new time for leg one is 13 days 19 hours 2 minutes, this put him a day behind Nicolas Charmet in 69th position.

Bearing in mind R-14-c says that infringement of R-14-b will result in a life-time ban from Classe Mini and will result in an enquiry by the sailor's National Sailing Association, Delplace got off lightly.

One of the pre-race favourites Aloys Claquin has been penalised two hours for not formally declaring his finish in Puerto Calero within the allocated time. He has dropped from 21st to 28th.

Finally it was found that the liferaft of Jean-Christophe Lagrange on board Zoukati had deployed and he has been penalised by one hour. He is now 63rd. Under R-13 competitors are responsible for the proper handling of seals and the reliability of the fixing points used.