And they're off

ZUI this article from the MOD Defence News:

The competitors in the iconic Tall Ships Race 2008 began the first leg of their journey yesterday, Wednesday 23 July 2008, as they left Northern Ireland to race to Maloy in Norway.

Six Royal Navy ships launched the famous race on Monday 21 July 2008, in Liverpool in front of a crowd of thousands of spectators who had turned out to see the magnificent sight of the Tall Ships.

Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships HMS Argyll, RFA Lyme Bay, minehunter HMS Grimsby, patrol vessel HMS Mersey and P2000's HMS Ranger and HMS Blazer, were on the Mersey to see the start of the race.

From Måløy, the ships will cruise south to Bergen, Norway, whence they will race to Den Helder, the Netherlands. Lists of the ships which were expected to participate, sorted by class, can be found here, here, here and here.

MOD photograph (RFA Lyme Bay) © Crown Copyright/MOD 2008