THE boats have been stocked and the sails are being hoisted.

There will be tears of joy and sadness as hundreds of people will say goodbye to their families – some for a matter of weeks and others for almost a year.

And then the crews of the 2015/16 Clipper Round the World Race will embark on one of the toughest challenges known to mankind.

The fleet leaves London today ahead of the start of the race proper on Monday as 12 teams compete to make it to Rio de Janeiro first.

Amateur sailors – including 25 from Hampshire

– have been in training for months. but They will now have to put what they’ve have learned into practice with only one professional skipper per team to help them.

A race spokesman said: “Having completed a rigorous training course, participants are suited and booted in the latest extreme protection gear to commence the race of their lives – an unparalleled challenge where taxi drivers rub shoulders with chief executives, vicars mix with housewives, students work alongside bankers, and engineers team up with rugby players.

“The sea does not distinguish between Olympians or novices. There is nowhere to hide – if Mother Nature throws down the gauntlet, you must be ready to face the same challenges as the pro racer.”

Hampshire sailing legend Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who founded the first Clipper race in 1996, will get proceedings under way at a departure ceremony that starts at 1pm.

Brazilian dancers and drummers will perform as the teams make their way to a stage individually before boarding their 70-foot yachts.

The Qingdao yacht will then lead the fleet out of St Katharine Docks, London, at 2.15pm, with each teams following one by one inat four minute intervals.

And Spectators will get to see London’s famous Tower Bridge raised twice as the fleet passes through and back again before they depart London in line astern formation.

After docking in Rio, the eight-stage race continues via Cape Town in South Africa, Australia, Vietnam, China, Seattle, Panama, New York, Derry/Londonderry, Dan Helder in the Netherlands and finally finishing in London next July.

This year’s teams are: Unicef, Derry/Londonderry-Doire, Da Nang, Clippertelemed, Garmin, Great Britain, Ichorcoal, Lmax Exchange, Mission Performance, PSP Logistics, Qingdao and Visit Seattle.