LES SABLES-D'OLONNE, France (AFP) - France's Vincent Riou was the first to cross the start line for the fifth round-the-world Vendee Globe.
With over 300,000 spectators watching on the field of 20 sailors (18 men and two women), each at the helm of 60-foot single hulls, set out for three tough months of 25,000 miles non-stop sailing.
Following Riou in unseasonably balmy conditions were Ocean Planet skippered by American Bruce Schwab and the Swiss competitor Dominique Wavre in Temenos.
The last edition was captured by Michel Desjoyeaux in 93 days, four hours, 57 minutes and 32 seconds as he beat home Englishwoman Ellen MacArthur.
Among the favourites for the event, which is held every four years, is former fireman Mike Golding, the 44-year-old Briton who lost a mast within four hours of the start of the 2000 race.
The first four Vendee Globe races have been won by Frenchmen but Golding plans to break that sequence.
"Mike is hungry and motivated. He's a tough competitor," said Frenchman Roland Jourdain who finished third four years ago.
Golding is the only person ever to sail single-handed and non-stop around the world in both directions.
He left the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service in 1991 to become a professional yachtsman, and in 1993-94 Golding sailed non-stop around the world 'the wrong way' against the prevailing winds and currents, beating Chay Blyth's record by 125 days and setting a new world circumnavigation record of 161 days.
That record was later beaten by Frenchmen Phillippe Monnet, in 2000, and Jean-Luc Van den Heede in March this year.
Last year Golding won the TransAt from Plymouth to Boston and then the Defi Atlantique single-handed race from Brazil to France last December in Ecover. He has sailed round the world five times, three times solo.
Fellow Britons Alex Thomson, who last year set a 24-hour distance record of 466 miles for a single-hulled boat, and Conrad Humphreys, a former Golding crewmate, are also racing.
Canadian Benoit Parnaudeau, Californinian Schwab and Nick Moloney, from Melbourne, Australia, complete the international lineup.
Vendee Globe entry list
Patrice Carpentier (FRA/VPM Materiaux), Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA/Virbac-Paprec), Raphael Dinelli (FRA), Mike Golding (GBR/Ecover), Conrad Humphreys (GBR/Hellomoto), Sebastien Josse (FRA/VMI), Roland Jourdain (FRA/Sill), Herve Laurent (FRA/UUDS), Jean Le Cam (FRA/Bonduelle), Karen Leibovici (FRA/Benefic), Anne Liardet (FRA/Roxy), Nick Moloney (AUS/Skandia), Benoit Parnaudeau (FRA-CAN/Max Havelaar), Vincent Riou (FRA/PRB), Bruce Schwab (USA/Ocean Planet), Norbert Sedlacek (AUT/Austria One), Joe Seeten (FRA/Arcelor Dunkerque), Marc Thiercelin (FRA/ProForm), Alex Thomson (GBR/Hugo Boss), Dominique Wavre (SWI/Temenos)

11/07/2004 - 21:29 GMT - AFP