Sailing: Dickson in the dock

The race committee is bringing an official protest against Chris Dickson, the skipper of the overall leader in the Whitbread Round the World Race, Tokio, for de-mounting the radar scanner placed at the stern of his yacht, while racing, writes Stuart Alexander from Fremantle, Australia. This breaks the race rules. The race director, Ian Bailey-Willmot, believes he has photographic evidence to support his complaint. The benefit to a yacht is to remove the pendulum effect of about 25lb mounted 10 feet above the deck. If accepted by the international jury, the likely punishment would be a time penalty. France's La Poste, which went to the aid of the distressed Italian yacht Brooksfield, is due to finish the second leg in Fremantle tonight. The British yacht Dolphin & Youth, rudder fittings repaired in the Kerguelen Islands, is due to finish next weekend. The leg was won by Britain's Lawrie Smith in Intrum Justitia. Six other yachts have now finished, including Dennis Conner's Winston which, with La Poste, will be seeking time compensation for going to the aid of Brooksfield.