LES SABLES D’OLONNE, France (AP) – The world’s ultimate sailing race is under way, and a boat that underwent renovations at a boatyard in Maine was among those setting sail.

Thirty boats set sail Sunday out of a port in western France in the Vendee Globe (VOHN’-day), a 25,000-mile race in which mariners sail around the world by themselves with no stops along the way.

Rich Wilson of Rockport, Mass., is the only American in the race.

He’s aboard the 60-foot Great American III, which was refitted at the Maine Yacht Center in Portland in preparation for the race.

The first Vendee Globe entry refitted in Portland was Ocean Planet, skippered by Bruce Schwab, who in 2004 entered the race for the fifth time. That proved to be the charm, as Schwab became the first American to complete the course, coming in ninth overall.

AP-ES-11-09-08 0843EST