Sessions and Sail heads to Tasmania aboard the iconic 45-metre brigantine Søren Larsen, bringing our unique combination of music sessions and tall-ship sailing to this extraordinary corner of the world for the first time.

We begin in Hobart during the Australian Wooden Boat Festival — the largest celebration of wooden boats and maritime culture in the Southern Hemisphere — sailing out onto the harbour and the Derwent River for dinner as the festival closes with a fireworks display overhead.

Over the following four days, we'll work our way down the stunning south-east coast under the expert guidance of Captain Marty Woods and his crew — learning to handle the ship, keeping watch, and holding our own onboard festival of music sessions led by our team of Scottish and Australian musicians. Anchorages may include Sunken Rock Bay, Cloudy Bay, White Beach, Tiger Head Bay, North and South Bruny Island, and Cygnet — jaw-dropping spots in the lee of dolerite cliffs, with evening sessions drifting out across the water as the light goes down.

The exact route is at the Master's discretion, shaped by weather and tide. But this coastline offers a lifetime's worth of remarkable places — and we're guaranteed a perspective on Tasmania that very few people ever get.

You may already be familiar with Sessions and Sail's Scottish musical sailing voyages!

If not — we've been sailing the Scottish coast since 2018, from the north of Shetland to the Hebrides, Skye and Islay, with the occasional cheeky crossing to Donegal, bringing tunes and festival spirit to the islands and communities we visit. Since 2025 we've been bringing the experience to Australia, and we'd love you to join us for something truly special: our first-ever Tasmanian voyage, aboard the beautiful brigantine Søren Larsen.

Musicians of all abilities are welcome; no sailing experience is required. We'll be celebrating folk music of all kinds and origins — and we're particularly well placed to offer tuition and sessions in Scottish Traditional, Americana, and Songwriter styles.

So come along — join the shanties as we hoist Søren Larsen's mainsail in Hobart; play tunes on deck as we sail past the wild shores of Bruny Island; sit in on a session in the ship's saloon learning a Scottish march; pick up some Shetland music and sailing lore with Barry; and work alongside Marty and the crew as we set the sails and watch this extraordinary coastline unfold around us.

About the Ship — Brigantine Søren Larsen:

• Built in Denmark in 1949, the oak-hulled brigantine is now based in Sydney and sails Australian waters year-round.

• The ship has deep historical and musical significance within the Sessions and Sail story.

Experience & What's Included:

• All food, accommodation, sessions, and workshops are included in the price.

• Music: An encouraging environment for sessions at all levels, from first-timers to seasoned players.

• Sailing: Get hands-on with the crew — take the helm, work the lines, and haul on the sheets — or simply relax and let the scenery do its thing.

• Workshops & Sessions: Guided by experienced tutors who have sailed and played on Sessions and Sail voyages from Shetland to Sydney.

You will be allocated a berth in one of Soren Larsen's seven double cabins - or in one of her two four-berth cabins. For solo travellers, cabins will be allocated on a same-sex basis; if two people travelling together wish to share a cabin, we recommend booking early to ensure availability.

There are three shower/toilet rooms below decks; these are shared.

Cabin space is compact but cosy, and evocative of an earlier age of travel. if you like an adventure you'll love it.

Meals are prepared in the deck house galley; these are of a high standard and prepared by the ship's full-time cook. All meals, tea and coffee are included in the price of the trip.

The lower deck saloon is warm and evocative, providing an ideal place for everyone to eat together, and a great session space. In good weather, we will spend the bulk of our time on deck, eating and playing tunes in the open air.

Please note that the Soren Larsen is a ship built in 1949 - getting around the ship and above and below decks requires a degree of mobility and ability to negotiate stairs. Shore excursions may involve a dinghy ride and now and then a beach landing.

If you have mobility issues it is best to check your suitability for this voyage - please send us a message and we'll be happy to advise!

Sessions and Sail recognise that in voyaging in Tasmania and in Australia, we are visiting lands and waters that were the sovereign homelands of the First Peoples of this continent, and that this sovereignty was never ceded.

Sessions and Sail originated in Scotland, travelling to islands and coastal communities and playing music that is deeply connected to our own place and culture. In bringing our project to Australia, we are open and keen to collaborate and share with musical traditions from across this country and beyond.

On this voyage we are likely to sail through Country belonging to the Muwinina, Nuenonne, and Lyluequonny peoples — the original nations of the lands and waters of south-east Tasmania — whose connection to this coastline stretches back tens of thousands of years.

Sessions and Sail acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the Country we will be visiting, and their continuing connection to land, sea, and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.

The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited (ABTOT) provides financial protection under The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 for Nisbet Marine Services/Sessions and Sail, Member Number 5533, and in the event of their insolvency,  protection is provided for:

 -  Non-flight packages

ABTOT  cover provides for a refund in the event you have not yet travelled or repatriation if transportation was included in your package. Please note that bookings made outside the UK are only protected by ABTOT when purchased directly with Nisbet Marine Services/Sessions and Sail.

In the unlikely event that you require assistance whilst abroad due to our financial failure, please call our 24/7 helpline on 01702 811397 and advise you are a customer of an ABTOT protected travel company.

You can access The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 here

You can find out more about ABTOT here

Hobart is a wonderful city to spend time in before or after your voyage aboard Søren Larsen — and we'd encourage you to build in at least a day either side if you can.

If you're arriving on the Saturday before departure, Salamanca Market is unmissable — one of Australia's finest outdoor markets, right on the historic waterfront, with food, craft, and usually some live music. The surrounding Battery Point neighbourhood is perfect for a wander afterwards.

For a full day out, MONA — the Museum of Old and New Art — is unlike anything else in Australia. Built into a sandstone cliff on the Derwent by an eccentric gambling millionaire, it's provocative, spectacular, and genuinely surprising. Take the MONA ROMA ferry up the river rather than driving — it's part of the experience. Allow a full day.

kunanyi / Mount Wellington looms over the city and rewards the effort of getting up there — extraordinary views over Hobart, the Derwent, and the wider landscape you'll soon be sailing through. Accessible by bus or taxi.

For whisky, head to Lark Distillery on the waterfront — Tasmania has become a serious whisky region and Lark is where it started. For food, the Salamanca Place precinct has no shortage of good options.

A short drive out of the city, Richmond is a beautifully preserved colonial sandstone village with the oldest bridge in Australia — worth a half-day if you have a car or can join a tour.

We haven't personally explored every corner of Hobart — local knowledge is always best, and your ship's crew will have their own favourite recommendations once you're aboard.

You'll join the beautiful brigantine Søren Larsen in Hobart harbour mid-afternoon, having spent the day soaking up the spectacle and music of the Australian Wooden Boat Festival — of which your ship is very much a central part.

A cup of tea and a chat on deck, then you'll find your bunk and stow your gear before Captain Marty Woods gathers everyone together for a welcome aboard. After a safety briefing and introductions from the crew, we'll get Søren Larsen ready for sea.

As evening falls, we sail out of the harbour — dinner on deck as the festival's closing fireworks burst and bloom overhead. Once the last one fades, the tunes begin.

We wake at the anchorage Captain Marty chose the night before, and watch the morning sun rise behind wooded hills.

Breakfast on deck, then the anchor comes up and we sail on into wilder waters.

We cruise south down the sheltered channel between North Bruny Island and the Tasmanian mainland, watching the scenery slip by as our tutors coax the music into life. Whether it's a small session on the foredeck, a big session near the wheel, one-to-one tuition in the deckhouse, or a workshop in the saloon — there's something for everyone, at every level.

We may manage a stop at the photogenic, sandy 'neck' that connects North and South Bruny.

By afternoon there's sail-handling to be done as we manoeuvre past the Ninepin Rock Marine Nature Reserve, the natural arches, and the tree-cloaked hills of the Mountain Creek Conservation Area. We sail on into Kangaroo Bay, then Cato's Bay, dropping anchor off the charming town of Cygnet as evening draws in.

Image: "The Neck Bruny Island" by JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5.

We spend the morning ashore in Cygnet — a coffee, a wander through the charming streets of this creative little town, and perhaps a browse of the local shops and galleries.

We up-anchor before lunch and cruise out through Sunken Rock Bay, back into the D'Entrecasteaux Channel and across to South Bruny. Underway, there's time to work with your tutors — learning a new set of tunes or a song, putting together an arrangement or a harmony, joining a Scottish or Old-Time session, or just watching the landscape slip past. South Bruny is wild, mountainous and forested, with cliffs and dolerite columns rising from the water.

Keep an eye out for Australian fur seals, fairy penguins, dolphins — and if you're lucky, southern right whales.

For tonight, we choose a bay anchorage off South Bruny and enjoy a delicious dinner on deck.

After breakfast and a morning session, we raise anchor and sail round the western peninsula of South Bruny — past the forest-cloaked hills of South Bruny National Park, Butler's Beach, and Cape Bruny Lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse in Tasmania, standing since 1838. We sail on up the eastern coast to Adventure Bay, where we drop anchor for the evening.

Tonight is our celebration — if we choose, we share a piece of music or a collaboration with our shipmates. Tunes, laughs, and a drink together as we raise a glass to the music, the coastline, and the voyage.

We up-anchor first thing and sail out through Cloudy Bay, rounding Tasman Head and setting a north-easterly course towards the Tasman Peninsula.

Tasman Head falls away behind us, the Friars slipping past to port — and if the prevailing wind holds, a fine breeze fills the square sails on Søren Larsen's foremast and drives us on. With sessions and tunes on deck filling the miles between sail-handling, we make short work of the forty nautical miles to Port Arthur. By midday we're rounding the dramatic columns of Cape Raoul and sailing up into the harbour.

This UNESCO World Heritage Site — listed for its role in Britain's convict transportation system — is a monument to a foundational chapter in Australian colonial history, in all its complex and grisly reality. The sandstone penitentiary buildings rise from the shoreline as we come to anchor; it's a sight that stays with you.

We have a final lunch together on deck, then at 1400 say our farewells to Søren Larsen and her crew. Hobart is two hours away by bus — but there's plenty to explore ashore on the Tasman Peninsula first, and no shortage of reasons to linger.

Image: "Port Arthur, Tasmania" by EurovisionNim is licensed under CC BY 4.0.