The Irish sailor 'disqualified' from last week's ILCA European Championships in Italy missed an umpire's signal due to noise, according to the Irish Sailing Association.
The ISA state, "during racing, the on-the-water umpires signalled a penalty turns [sic] to Dun Laoghaire's Fiachra McDonnell, which he missed in the noise of the on-the-water activity".
Following the conclusion of racing last Friday in the ILCA6 European Championship, the international jury disqualified McDonnell from the week-long competition, scoring him as 'DNE' or 'Do Not Exclude' for every race sailed.
McDonnell incurred three penalties during the course of the week-long competition in Andora, prompting the jury decision under Rule 42.
A description of the incident on the event website on leg one of race 11 states, "Repeated body pumps on the beat, close to the mark, Did not retire, DNE for all races in the event".
"McDonnell was initially shown in the provisional results for the 71-boat fleet as having placed ninth overall, and only when the final official result was published on Friday evening was the revised standing apparent," the ISA said.
