Spectacular London send-off for amateur sailors in Clipper race

Hundreds of amateur sailors from around the world passed under Tower Bridge on Sunday at the start of a 40,000 nautical mile global race, between six continents, which will take almost a year to complete Clipper Round the World Yacht Race.

Tens of thousands of well-wishers filled the international Race Village at St Katharine Docks, central London's only marina, and lined the banks of the Thames to wave off the crews and their professional skippers in the tenth edition of the biennial race.

The fleet of 12 identical 70-foot ocean racing yachts participated in a parade with London's iconic Tower Bridge lifting to salute the crew twice ahead of their ocean odyssey.

"Our crew are everyday people who are taking on one of the world's toughest endurance challenges," stated Clipper Race founder and legendary yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston, who became the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world in 1968-9.

Nearly half of the 700 crew, representing 44 countries and regions, from all walks of life, had never sailed before undergoing their extensive pre-race training. The youngest is 18 and the oldest is 74. 35 percent are women.

Teams are sponsored by global destination, business and consumer brands, which include debuts for cities such as Da Nang of Vietnam and Visit Seattle. The longest successive competitor is the Chinese city of Qingdao, host of the sailing events of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, which has used the race as a major part of its legacy program; this is its sixth campaign.

Race 1 starts on Monday. Following the first stopover in Brazil, the fleet will continue on via Cape Town, Albany - Western Australia, Sydney (including the world famous Sydney-Hobart Race), the Whitsundays, Da Nang - Vietnam, Qingdao - China, Seattle, Panama, New York, Derry-Londonderry and Den Helder - the Netherlands, before returning to London on 30 July 2016. Endi