50 tall ships and 1,000 crew members are ready for epic race

The race has been held every year since 1956 and sees hundreds of young crews take to the seas in single-hulled ships.

More than 50 tall ships set off from Waterford in Ireland earlier this week to sail to Inverclyde.

The tall ships are beginning to arrive in Greenock and will stay until Tuesday.

Today more than 1,000 crew members are expected to take part in a parade through the town. The other stops on the race route are Lerwick in Shetland, Stavanger in Norway, and Halmstad in Sweden.

The fleet includes a single Fyffe classic ship - the Swan - built at Fyffes Shipyard in Fairlie, Ayrshire.

Captain Charlie Mawer, the deputy harbour master for Clydeport, spoke of the magic of seeing the area's proud naval heritage brought to life as the ships began to arrive at the James Watt dock.

He said: "Some of them are very old and some are fairly new, but they all have this dream, sailing under the wind. It is a great adventure for so many young people.

"It looks wonderful. It really is a great site to see coming into this place which would once have been full of such ships taking cargo all over the world.

"The Clyde is famous for its sailing ships. To actually see these coming in, sailing in, is brilliant. You don't get the opportunity to see that much these days".

The race is organised by the charity Sail Training International, which works with the remaining tall ships in service.

This year, nearly 7,000 trainees are taking part in the race series.