Vendee Globe

5:04 PM Sun 9 Nov 2008 GMT

'The Vend?e Globe got underway at 13h 02 today (Sunday)' ? Jacques Vapillon / DPPI / Vend?e Globe

After the emotional farewells on the dock, the final goodbyes were an undignified scramble for most teams, with shore crews despatched to RIBs at the very last minute.

With one minute to go it was Foncia who was closest to the line, but at the gun Mike Golding on Ecover 3 was ahead - too early of a few seconds, he was called OCS and returned. Algimouss was then the 1st Open 60 to cut the line in this 6th edition of the Vendee Globe.

Vincent Riou on PRB pulled away into an early lead, with Aviva on his hip - Dee Caffari having got a great start on the far right-hand side of the course. Seb Josse's BT, Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss, and J?r?mie Beyou's Delta Dore were all in the front row of the main pack.

It was defending champion Vincent Riou on PRB who got his nose in front first, with Paprec-Virbac (Jean-Pierre Dick) and Sebastien Josse on BT climbing to join him on the charge out to sea, Josse taking the lead after around an hour of racing.

Dee Caffari got a confidence-boosting flying top-five start on Aviva, carrying full mainsail - as did Riou and Thomson, while the rest of the fleet opted for a reef.

This evening conditions are set to worsen with the arrival of a low over Ireland generating south-westerly winds in excess of 30 knots gusting to more than 45.

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