WITH the sea battles of the first leg done and dusted, the crews of the Volvo Ocean Race, who have all now arrived in Cape Town, are preparing for more clashes on the docks after leg winner illbruck was twice protested.

John Kostecki's German team, who crossed the finish line first last week, found a protest lodged against them by rival crew Assa Abloy following an accusation of misuse of the Internet in gaining weather information.

All crews have access to an approved list of websites in the public domain to collect data on weather patterns but Assa Abloy claimed that Kostecki, whose navigator is Southampton's Ian Moore, was logging into an exclusive section of a site, which is in contravention of race rules.

More seriously, the race committee also put in a complaint against illbruck after one of the measurers discovered modifications had been made to the equipment supplied by Volvo Penta when the boats were taken out of the water.

On the protest form James Dadd, V.O.60 class measurer wrote: "It has come to my attention, that illbruck challenge have carried out modifications to their Volvo Penta supplied S-Drive.

"A weed-cutting device has been attached to the leading edge over the full exposed length of the S-Drive, and filler compound has been added and faired between the blade edge and the S-Drive body.

"Additionally the oil drain located at the lower end of the S-Drive has been filled and faired to create a single surface area on the S-Drive."

The modifications were not approved by the chief measurer and Illbruck had therefore failed to comply with the Volvo Ocean 60 Rule.

If the modifications were found to be made after the boats were measured in Southampton, the race committee could take action against the crew.

Though if they were found to be simple unauthorised changes, it is more likely they would impose points penalties but the transgression will be but before a hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.