A time penalty has been given to Brian Thompson for having crew on board Bahrain Pindar after the four minute warning signal for the Vendée Globe start yesterday. The race committee protested Thompson following the infringement and have informed him he has to stop for four hours during the race.

It is not yet clear exactly what the four-hour stop entails, how or when he would have to make it. It seems this can be done when he likes, but the race committee have yet to clarify this.

Last minute computer problems on board had apparently kept one of the shore crew busy below deck until the final few minutes. Thompson’s crewed pre-start was a very public mistake as a TV camera from a helicopter above was beaming back pictures of crew helping to tack and grind in sheets up to two minutes before the start, to the surprise of the commentators.