Sydney Tall Ship

Escape with us for a voyage of discovery to places most people only dream about.

Adventure sailing cruises in the tropical islands of the South Pacific. Square rig adventure for all ages. Join the star of ‘The Onedin Line’.

We seek out the hidden Pacific – sailing the tradewinds to find the untouched beauty and undisturbed culture of the remoter islands and communities of Polynesia and Melanesia.

Soren Larsen is one of the most magnificently restored Tallships still sailing. Previously the star of The Onedin Line BBC series she has sailed Cape Horn, explored the Pacific in the wake of Captain Cook and is now based in Sydney, Australia as her new home.

SOUTH PACIFIC – Treasures of Oceania
Sailing Holidays in the South Pacific and sailing adventure for all ages. From April to October we sail to the best Pacific tropical islands, lagoons and anchorages of Oceania.

An authentic trans Tasman square rig passage from the ship’s new base in Sydney Harbour to New Zealand is blue water sailing at its best.

An ocean passage from New Zealand to Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands sets Soren Larsen up for a tropical trade wind route in a series of voyages across Polynesia and Melanesia.

From Raro we sail north and west to the remote northern Cooks, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Samoa, the whale breeding grounds of northen Tonga and colourful Fiji.

We explore the wild untouched beauty and undisturbed culture of the islands of Vanuatu, and the classical South Sea beauty of New Caledonia. A sailing passage from Noumea to Lord Howe and Sydney completes an incredible season’s voyaging.

South Pacific Challenge and the tall ship the Søren Larsen are owned by Dynamic Experience Group, an Australian family business devoted to sharing the unique experience of sailing aboard Tall Ships around Australia and the South Pacific.

The Dynamic Promise:

“The most fun, personal, engaging experiences on the planet; providing the most outstanding value, or your money back. – Guaranteed!”

South Pacific Challenge is dedicated to sharing the incredible experience of Tall Ship sailing aboard the award winning Tall Ship the Søren Larsen who currently makes Sydney her home port but has had many an epic ocean crossing in the 60 years she has been sailing. She is famous as the star of the BBC TV historical drama series ‘The Onedin Line’ and has also been featured in “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”, “Count of Monte Cristo” and “Shackleton” – where she sailed north to the Arctic Circle into the pack-ice of Greenland.

The National Geographic Adventure Magazine nominated Søren Larsen on the ’25 Greatest Trips in the World’ and she has won several tourism awards including the Hauraki Gulf Development and Protection Award at the 1996 inaugural Tourism Auckland awards. In 1997 she was the Activity and Experience winner as well as the Adventure / Outdoor activity winner at the Tourism Auckland awards. In 1999 the Søren Larsen had the honour of winning the ‘Adventure and Experience’ Category of the Tourism Auckland awards.

The Søren Larsen holds the title of the first British flagged tall ship to sail round Cape Horn since 1936. In 1992 she surpassed this, winning her class in the Transatlantic Tall Ship Race via New York and Liverpool at the Columbus Grand Regatta. South Pacific Challenge invites you aboard this majestic historical vessel to join her crew and take part in the adventure and excitement of an authentic ocean sailing voyage.

A Star of the Sea, the Story of Soren Larsen

“From the moment you step on board and notice the graceful sweep of her hull, the heavy timbers of her decks and the set of her sails, you can tell the Soren Larsen is something special.” (John L. Coombes, Tall Ships, The Sixteen Square Riggers of Australia and New Zealand, 2006)

The Soren Larsen was one of the last cargo carrying sailing ships built in 1949 in oak by the Danish ship building family Søren Larsen & sons in Northern Denmark. After carrying cargo throughout Scandinavia, Iceland, Northern Europe and Britain, she was lovingly restored and re-rigged in 1978 to the graceful 19th century Brigantine she is today.

Soren Larsen achieved international fame as a star of the BBC’s classic series ‘The Onedin Line’. Other film work includes ‘French Lieutenant’s Woman’ and ‘Shackleton’, which took her to the Arctic to play the role of the Endurance in the ice pack. During filming, she became the first wooden sailing ship to reach Arctic Greenland in seventy years.

The Soren Larsen has a rich history as a voyaging tall ship. She has circumnavigated the globe twice and sailed over 220,000 nautical miles. Starting out in northern Denmark, her travels have taken her to many far flung places including Antarctica and in 1991 she rounded Cape Horn.

Soren Larsen was chosen to be Flagship of the First Fleet Re-enactment Voyage celebrating Australia’s Bicentennial. She led a fleet of 8 square riggers on an ambitious eight month, 22,000 mile voyage from Portsmouth to arrive in Sydney on 26th January 1988 – Australia Day.

She came to Auckland in 1989 to represent Britain in the 150th Celebrations and adopted New Zealand as her base from which to cruise the idyllic South Pacific Islands. In 1991, she made a passage back to Europe along the Clipper Route across the Southern Ocean and in December 1991, she became the first British tall ship to round Cape Horn since 1936.

After a major refit in the UK at Gloucester, Soren Larsen celebrated the Millennium with a spectacular round the world voyage, visiting 25 countries and sailing 30,000 nautical miles. For the last two decades, she has sailed in the delightful islands of the tropical South Pacific, making major voyages as far as Easter Island, Pitcairn, the Marquesas islands of French Polynesia and across the heart of Oceania with the trade winds.

After joining the Authentic Charters fleet in 2012, the Soren Larsen is now one of the very few authentic timber square riggers still operating in the 21st century. Based in Sydney Harbour, Australia, she now provides daily harbour sails, charters and incredibly she continues to set out on voyages to remote tropical destinations in the Pacific and around the world.

When you step on board the beautifully crafted and maintained Soren Larsen, you truly understand why she is a famous star of the sea.