Tall Ship Soren Larsen New Zealand Sailing adventure for all ages

Tall Ship Soren Larsen 2007 ~ South Pacific Sail Training Adventure for all ages

Midshipman Heywood Sails from Tahiti, again.

In 1789 Midshipman Peter Heywood sailed from Tahiti aboard HMS Bounty, became involved in that mutiny, was captured, tried and sentenced before being pardoned and subsequently had a distinguished Naval career.

218 years later Soren's own Midshipman Heywood saled with a happier crew in these same waters..

Soren Larsen 16 July to 2 August 2007

Hey, my name is Josh Heywood and I am 11 years old. When I found out that I was going aboard the Soren Larsen with my family I thought that it was going to be really bad, but now I think all that travelling all the way from Oman (Middle East) was worth it.

When I stepped on to Soren Larsen the first time I could not wait till I climbed aloft and swung on the Tarzan rope. Then we had to meet all the crew, Emma, Jon Medic, John Engineer, Ali Purser, Alison Cook, Cathy, George, Maho, Darren, Miranda, Barry, Gareth and Carl. They were all very nice people.

Then we had lunch, the food was amazing.
I thought the food would be rotten and disgusting but it was fresh and tasty.

Then we got shown to our rooms. The rooms had bunk beds and some rooms had sinks. The boat has showers with fresh water and has a salloon where you eat your dinner,or play cards in the evening.

After all the lunch and tours round the boat we set off from Papeete to Moorea. When we got out of the harbour at Papeete it was a big swell but it wasn't that bad, then we did this watch system.

They have different times for people to do watches, 4-8, 8-12, 12-4, all the way round the day. 4-8 was the best because it was sunrise and sunset.

Then we arrived in Moorea 4 hours later and we walked round the island. We got back to the boat we did the Tarzan rope, that was fun, you jump from the bow and you swing into the sea. That was great fun.

After we visited the rest of the Society Islands, we set off on a three day passage for the cook islands. The sailing was great, the crew showed us which ropes to ease and which ropes to pull.But first we had to loose the sails, so we had to climb aloft past the fighting top. Then we had to climb out along the yards and untie all the gasget lines. For safety we had to wear a harness, which we to clip on to safety lines.

On day two of our passage the 1st Mate explained all of the sail and what there for and how to use them which was really useful. On the last night we had a fancy dress party with PUNCH.