Around the world in ten small clippers

This weekend sees the start of an incredible adventure for ten intrepid sailing crews as the Clipper 07-08 round the world yacht race sets off from the Albert Dock. This challenging race will take them over 35,000 miles, visiting 14 ports in 5 continents before returning to Liverpool next July.

You can see the clippers in the Albert Dock over the next couple of days while the crews make their final preparations. I went down to check out their colourful new liveries after a visit to the Maritime Museum earlier today.

The Glasgow clipper seems to have been inspired by the Black Pearl from 'Pirates of the Caribbean' - it's looking very sleek now in black and is flying the Jolly Roger flag. I hope that they're not tempting fate and don't attract any pirates (although I may change my mind about that if they're ahead of the Liverpool clipper in the race as I will of course be supporting the home team).

You can see more photos on a Flickr slideshow of the clippers in the Albert Dock.