The race may be over, but the Vendée Globe has just dropped one of its biggest bombshells – one that ought to bring race organisers everywhere out in goosebumps.

The prospect is of the race being mired, America’s Cup style, in litigation. But it has much wider implications. this dispute is over who should bear the financial consequences of saving a life at sea, something that until now no-one has dared publicly place a price on.

One sponsor now has. PRB, backers of Vicent Riou, says it cost them ?750,000 to cover the costs of rescuing of Jean Le Cam near Cape Horn in January – and they want someone else to pay.

Their decision has caused widespread alarm and dismay among other skippers and the race organisers, who say they “have done nothing wrong” and has huge potential implications.

I’ve looked at the background to this, the reaction of the race organisers and some of the implications of a legal dispute in my blog. You can read more about this by clicking here.