People across Glasgow and west Scotland turned out in their thousands to welcome the Commonwealth Flotilla.

The big event took place on Saturday, with more than 1,900 sailors participating and the largest assembly of boats in the history of the Clyde.

The Royal Yachting Association Scotland, which organised the 19 nautical mile journey from Greenock to Glasgow, estimated around 10,000 spectators attended both of its official spectator sites at the Beacon Arts Centre and the Riverside Museum.

Many more lined the route of the flotilla to catch a glimpse of the 250-strong fleet.

The flotilla was headed by the CalMac ferry, Lochinvar, a diesel electric hybrid. Other boats taking part ranged from small family cruising yachts to more traditional working boats including the VIC32 “Clyde puffer”.

James Stuart, chief executive officer of RYA Scotland said: ‘We are amazed and absolutely thrilled at the success of the Commonwealth Flotilla.

‘We wanted to inject some colour into the Clyde for one weekend in what is probably the most important fortnight in Glasgow’s recent history.

‘We got the sense in the last couple of days that this was going to be a big event but the response that we got from spectators throughout the day has been incredible, and totally beyond our expectations.’

To accommodate the number of boats and participants RYA Scotland built a pop-up marina in Glasgow city centre, utilising over 1km of pontoons and around 100 volunteers.

Pictures credited to the Commonwealth Flotilla Facebook page