(Photograph courtesy of Sail Training International)

The Tall Ships' Races fleet left Liverpool on Monday in a glorious Parade of Sail with the sun shining and the crowds out in their hundreds of thousands. Stavros S Niarchos led the parade passing Pluckington Bank Buoy at 1400 hrs followed by a group of other vessels. Each subsequent group of ships followed at five minute intervals.

The fleet will head north to an area off the north coast of Northern Ireland for the race start which will take place on today. This time should prove valuable for crew training before the race itself. Once under way, the fleet will have a challenging voyage around the top of Scotland and across the North Sea to Måløy, Norway (1-4 August).