Tall ships heading this way

The R Tucker Thompson and the Spirit of New Zealand will be part of a fleet of at least nine tall ships due in Northland in October. Photo / Chris Rudsdale

Up to a dozen tall ships crewed by 1000 sailors are due in the Bay of Islands later this year in what may be the most spectacular sailing fleet Northland has ever seen.

The sailing ships will be racing from Sydney to Opua, which is just one leg of a round-the-world voyage retracing old trade routes.

The three Dutch ships forming the core of the fleet left Amsterdam in 2012 and arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia, last week. They are now en route to Adelaide.

The ships are due, depending on the weather, in the Bay of Islands about the weekend of October 19-20. They will clear customs at Opua and stay in port until October 21 where the public can see them and get on board at least two.

The New Zealand leg of the voyage is being coordinated by council-owned company Far North Holdings and Aucklander John Lister.

Far North Holdings marketing director Noel Brown said 10 ships had so far been confirmed with the exact number to be finalised in mid-September.

The best viewing places and times will also be made public at that time.

On October 22 the fleet is due to sail down the coast to Auckland, with a two-day stop at Kawau Island, arriving in time for a Parade of Sail on the Waitemata Harbour on October 25.

They will be joined on the Opua-Auckland leg of the voyage by Bay of Islands-based tall ship R Tucker Thompson, which still has berths available for the trip.

While in Australia the ships will take part in an International Fleet Review celebrating 100 years since of the first entry of the Royal Australian Navy Fleet into Sydney Harbour.

The Dutch ships sailed to Australia via Cape Town in South Africa and Mauritius.

After Auckland they will sail around Cape Horn and via the Falklands, South Georgia, Argentina, Ascension Island and the Azores back to the Netherlands.

The ships racing to Opua are expected to include the topsail schooner Oosterschelde, the barque Bark Europa and the ketch Tecla (Netherlands), the Navy barquentine Dewaruci (Indonesia), with three bands on board; the barque Picton Castle (Canada); the accessible tall ship Lord Nelson (UK), designed to be sailed by wheelchair users.