Race to Brest, France gets underway today

Race 1, to Brest France will officially start offshore at Southend this morning at 0830 UTC (0930 BST).

You can keep up to date with the action on our twitter feed as well as watch the live stream of the start here.

The first leg of the Clipper Race ends in Marina da Gloria, Rio de Janeiro, the destination for the 2016 Olympic sailing events.

They then continue on via South Africa, Western Australia, Sydney (including the world famous Sydney-Hobart Race), Brisbane, Singapore, China, San Francisco, Panama, Jamaica, New York, Derry-Londonderry and the Netherlands before returning to London’s St Katharine Docks for Race Finish in July 2014.