A sailing boat race begins on Thursday from the Black Sea port of Constanta, with two top-class sailing boats from Bulgaria departing from Varna.

The SCF Black Sea Tall Ships Regatta, one of the world's top sailing-boat races, this year includes the ports of Varna, Russia's Sochi and Novorossiysk, and Romania's Constanta.

The year 2014, when Varna hosted the competition, was the first one when it was held entirely within Black Sea waters.

The first leg of the race will end at the Russian port of Novorossiysk.

The Bulgarian Black Sea city will be the final destination for competing boats this year, with its Race 2 expected to finish between October 01 and 04.

Royal Helena and Kaliakra are the two Bulgarian boats taking part. The first of the two barquentines brought Bulgaria 5 awards throughout 2015, including a win of the Sochi-Constanta leg of the Tall Ships Regatta.

Kaliakra for its part has sailed for 32 years and has taken part in tough races such as a trans-Atlantic competition.

Students from the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Varna have also been invited on board.

The closing part will be marked by concerts, sports events and a parade of crews of all 14 sailing boats taking part in the race.

The Tall Ships Regatta started in 1956 to promote communication between young people from around the world. Since that it has become a traditional event involving vessels from Europe and other continents.