Six month suspended prison sentence imposed on top multihull skipper
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL on 14 Jul 2016
Moment of impact - Spindrift and a marshall boat - start of the Volvo Ocean Race, Leg 9 @ AFP
Yann Guichard, the skipper the supermaxi-trimaran Spindrift 2 has been given a six month suspended sentence for his role in an accident at the start of a leg of the Volvo Ocean Race after a collision with a RIB, that was believed to be an umpire or marshall boat.
Guichard appeared on June 27, 2016 before the Criminal Court of Lorient when the decision was reserved. The length of the suspended sentence was as requested by the prosecutor, but the fine was greater than that sought.
He was prosecuted for unintentional injuries and endangering the lives of others.
A passenger in the RIB was struck on the leg by a rudder on the supermaxi multihull as Spindrift bore away and the windward hull flew over the near stationary RIB who took almost no avoiding action and appeared not to have seen/anticipated the bearaway by Spindrift.
Following the accident, the woman had her leg amputated.
Despite the Collision Regulations presuming fault by both parties in any incident involving contact, there appears to be no action taken against the RIB driver.
The court sentenced Yann Guichard to six months suspended prison sentence and a Euro25,000 fine. A further Hearing is scheduled for December 2016 to determine compensation for the now-disabled passenger
For an earlier stories on the incident
click here and
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