Tall Ships

Over 70 sailing ships from around the world will be on the Mersey for the start of the 2008 Tall Ships Race.

The ships will congregate on the river on Monday, 21 July between 2pm and 4pm for a farewell Parade of Sail.

The ships will head down the river as far as the Britannia Inn on the Liverpool side and then loop back up the Mersey and out in to Liverpool Bay.

BBC Radio Merseyside will be providing live commentary from 12pm to 5pm on 95.8FM, DAB and 1485AM. You can listen live online by clicking the link on the right hand side of this page.

Class A vessels will leave Wellington Dock from 10am on Monday morning while the smaller ships will depart from the Albert Dock from 11.30am.

Tall Ships berthed on the River Mersey

The parade will be headed by HMS Agyll, a type 23 frigate, the ships will line up in formation behind.

The best viewing points will be on the Wirral side of the Mersey from Fort Perch Rock at New Brighton south to Wallasey Town Hall.

On the Liverpool side the optimum viewing areas are from the Britannia Inn close to the old Garden Festival site, north to Princes Parade, and further north at Crosby Marina. There will be no access to the Pier Head due to construction work.

Parade of Sail - Order of ships

GROUP A

HMS Argyll
Glaciere of Liverpool - Class B
Stavros S Niarchos - Class A
Far Barcelona - Class B
Gedania - Class C
Rona II - Class D
Esprit - Class C
Pogoria - Class A
HMS Grimsby
Lord Nelson - Class A

GROUP B

Capitan Miranda - Class A
Leader - Class B
Jolie Brise - Class B
Akela - Class D
Moosk - Class B
Westward Ho - Class B
HMS Mersey
Royalist - Class A
Sorlandet - Class A

GROUP C

Cisne Branco - Class A
Spirit of Fairbridge - Class B
Etoile - Class B
St Barbara V - Class D
Svanhild - Class B
Gaudeamus - Class C
HMS Blazer
Alexander Von Humboldt - Class A

GROUP D

Cauhtemoc - Class - A
Ocean Spirit of Moray - Class C
Black Diamond of Durham - Class C
Hebe II - Class D
Morning Star of Revelation - Class B
Morgenster - Class A
Eendracht - Class A

GROUP E

Statsraad Lehmkuhl - Class A
Rupel - Class B
Antwerp Flyer - Class C
Rzeszowiak - Class D
Clyde Challenger - Class C
Lord Rank - Class C
HMS Ranger
Kapitan Glowacki - Class A
Shabab Oman - Class A

GROUP F

Mir - Class A
Jens Krogh - Class B
Spaniel - Class C
Dasher - Class D
Zryw - Class C
Urania - Class C
Kaliakra - Class A
Pelican - Class A

GROUP G

Dar Mlodziezy - Class A
Stina Mari - Class B
John Laing - Class C
Assarain II - Class D
Asgard - Class A
Williwaw - Class C
Roald Amundsen - Class A

GROUP H

Christian Radich - Class A
Constantia - Class B
Greater Manchester Challenge - Class B
Alba Explorer - Class C
Fraggle - Class D
Gwarek - Class C
Nitron - Class D
Lietuva - Class D

It is the third time the race has visited Liverpool, previous races in 1984 and 1992 drew large crowds to the Mersey.

After Liverpool the ships will gather off the coast of Northern Ireland for the race start with the first leg to Maloy in Norway.

The ships will then cruise to Bergen in Norway and then the second leg of the race will be to Den Helder in the Netherlands.