Sessions and Sail bring our musical tall ship voyages to the Southern Hemisphere for the first time!
Join us as we set sail aboard the iconic 45-metre Brigantine 'Søren Larsen' for a week-long voyage out of Sydney Harbour; learn to sail the ship under the expert guidance of Captain Marty Woods and his crew; and join sessions led by musicians Barry Nisbet, Carol Anderson, Pepita Emmerichs and Theo Barnard.
You may be familiar with Sessions and Sail's famous Scottish musical sailing voyages already!
If not, know that we've been sailing around the Scottish Coast since 2018, from the north of Shetland, to the Hebrides, to Skye and to Islay, with the occasional cheeky crossing to Donegal, bringing the tunes and the festival to the islands and communities we visit.
Now we're bringing the experience to Australia, sailing out of Sydney aboard the beautiful square-rigged ship Søren Larsen - and we'd love you to join us!
Musicians of all ability are welcome; no sailing experience is required. We will be celebrating folk music of all kinds - but due to the mix of tutors sailing aboard, we are particularly well placed to offer tuition and sessions in Scottish Traditional, Bluegrass, Americana, Swing, Country and Songwriter styles.
So, sign up and come along - join the shanties as we hoist the Søren Larsen's main sail; play some bluegrass tunes with Theo and Pepi in the sun as we sail the coast; sit in on a session in the ship's saloon learning a Scottish March with Carol; pick up some Shetland music and sailing lore with Barry; and help Marty and the ship's crew operate this incredible sailng ship as we leave Sydney Heads behind, get the sails set and watch the coast unfold before us.
Accommodation aboard the Søren Larsen is in shared cabins - mostly two but some four berth.
There are three shared bathrooms, all with shower.
A single berth in a 2- or 4-berth cabin aboard s.s. Soren Larsen
3 meals per day plus snacks, tea, coffee
Classes, workshops and tuition from our onboard tutors
Transport between ship and shore using the ship's own dinghies
Drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic will be available onboard through the ship's honesty bar.
Head for Campbell's Cove, Sydney harbour - right next to the famous bridge! - where the beautiful brigantine Søren Larsen is ready to welcome you aboard.
We'll board at 10am; a cup of tea and a chat on deck, you'll fins your bunk and stow your gear, then captain Marty Woods will gather the crew and welcome everyone aboard!
After a safety chat and an introduction from the crew, we'll have some lunch on deck, and the chance to have a chat with your musical tutors for the week - Pepita Emmerichs (mandolin, fiddle), Theo Barnard (guitar, bass, vocals), Carol Anderson (Scottish fiddle) and Barry Nisbet (fiddle, guitar, songwriting);
Then, with lunch cleared away, we'll get the Søren Larsen ready for sea.
Our itinerary for the week will depend on the weather - we want to get this ship under sail as much as possible! But it's likely we'll stay inside the Sydney Bay area for this day. You'll see stunning views of the harbour and the city; and a first opportunity to help get the ship under sail.
We will keep a close eye on the weather forecast; if conditions outside are less than ideal, we may spend more of our trip in Sydney Bay - there are thousands of anchorages in this, one of the World's largest natural harbours.
By evening we're at one of these anchorages, in time for a drink before dinner; then it's time for our first group session on board; we gather on the aft deck and play some tunes together.
We wake at our anchorage, enjoying the morning sun and the view of Sydney Bay.
After a breakfast on deck, we get the anchor up; we're headed to sea!
Depending on the wind forecast, we may have decided to head North; or it may be better to head South. Either way, we get the Søren Larsen sailing. This ship is famous for her shanties, and hearty halyard songs ring out as the sails go up; we sail out beyond the Heads of Sydney Bay and into the Pacific Ocean. Our tutor Barry Nisbet has sailed ober 60,000 miles in the Pacific abord this ship; there will no doubt be some stories to be heard from him and Captain Marty, who is a shipmate from those days!
As we sail along, our tutors will encourage some music; whether it's a smaller session on the foredeck, a big session near the wheel, some one-to-one tuition in the ship's office or a workshop in the saloon, there will be something for everyone.
If we've headed North, it's a five hour sail to the Hawkesbury River; or we may have headed South where a 10-hour sail takes us to Wollongong. If it's Wollongong, those among us who are still up for more head ashore to a Wollongong Irish bar and play a few tunes!
If we've headed South, we have the morning ashore to explore Wollongong, a city of 300,000 and Australia's tenth-largest; backed by forested hills and boasting some stunning beaches, the fishing harbour is also well worth a stroll, and the breakwater lighthouse is one of Australia's oldest.
Back aboard for lunch, we sail on in the afternoon. If the breeze suits, Jarvis Bay may be a good destination. It's a 50-mile passage, so we instigate the watch system aboard Søren Larsen, with the 12-4, the 4-8 and the 8-12 all getting a shot. It's likely to be midnight by the time we make our anchorage at Jervis Bay.
(If we've headed North instead, we will instead spend today exploring the Hawkesbury River and Kuring-gai Chase National Park area, a forested, hilly area of stunning natural beauty, with hikes, wild country and hundreds of anchoring spots.)
Photo: "Wollongong Breakwater Lighthouse" by Bernard Spragg is marked with CC0 1.0.
If we've headed North and are in the Hawkesbury River area, today we start the day with a music workshop, after breakfast - Pepi and Theo teach us a tune that we can all enjoy for the rest of the trip. Thre's then time for breakout sessions - a bit of individual work with your tutors, going over this or other tunes.
Today it's also worth considering a piece of music you might like to play - either solo or with a shipmate - at our final evening on board, back in Sydney Bay. This will be an informal and supportive evening, just for ourselves, with the emphasis on fun - but can give a nice focus to the music we will play along the way.
After lunch we raise Søren's anchor and sail for Dangar Island, home of a vibrant creative community. We anchor up, and head ashore that evening aboard the ship's dinghies and play tunes with some local musicians.
"Dangar Island" by Airbornedronesaustralia is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The true sailors' stories come out on the night watches! Barry, Captain Marty and the crew all have fond experiences of nights aboard Søren Larsen under sail, no sound except the whoosh of the wake, sails puling gently, white-lit in the moonlight. Maybe tonight will be one of those!
We'll depart our anchorage after lunch, and get the ship sailing as a crew; once underway, watches will be set - the whole ship's company, except those crew members designated as 'idlers' - the Engineer, Cook, Carpenter - will be assigned to one of the three watches.
We have quiet time after dinner as the night watches rest up; sailing through the night on our way back towards Sydney Bay, we steer, keep lookout, trim the sails as necessary, and attend to the ship's work under the leadership of the Captain, Mate and 2nd Mate.
As the day breaks, the sun appearing over the Eastern horizon, we will be getting close to Sydney. We sail back beween the Heads, then find a nice anchorage to spend the rest of the day at.
At Manly Cove, Balmoral Beach or any one of a dozen anchorages in Sydney Bay, we may head ashore for a stroll, visit the beach, or work out some music on board.
In the evening, after dinner and ideally on the open deck, we gather all together and perform to our shipmates the music we have been preparing!
We have a breakfast together as the ship heads back to Campbell's Cove; once alongside, we say our farewells and look ahead to the next adventure!
