Paul Larsen (born 16 January 1970) is an Australian sailor who has been involved in many extreme sailing projects. He led the 10-year project for the

Vestas Sailrocket The ''Vestas Sailrocket'' was built to capture the sailing speed record competing in the B-class for 150 to 235 square feet of sail. It is piloted by the project leader Paul Larsen and sponsored by Danish wind turbines manufacturer Vestas. In 200 ...

, which set new nautical mile and 500m world

speed sailing record Speed sailing records are sanctioned, since 1972, by the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC). Records are measured either by average speed over a specified distance or by total distance traveled during a specified time interval. The three ...

s in 2012. He credits Pete Goss as the person who had the greatest impact on his sailing career, and his sailing hero. Paul Larsen was part of

Tim Jarvis Tim Jarvis AM (born May 1966) is a British-Australian environmental explorer, adventurer, climber, author and documentary filmmaker, with Masters qualifications in environmental science and environmental law. Due to his 2013 expedition recreatin ...

's six-man crew that in 2013 successfully recreated Ernst Shackleton's famous journey from

Elephant Island Elephant Island is an ice-covered, mountainous island off the coast of Antarctica in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands, in the Southern Ocean. The island is situated north-northeast of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, west-so ...

to South Georgia in the James Caird, a 22.5-foot lifeboat. Larsen successfully navigated the replica vessel, the Alexandra Shackleton, from Elephant Island to South Georgia using the same navigational instruments and methods that Frank Worsley, Shackleton's navigator on the James Caird, would have used. Additionally, after arriving at South Georgia, Larsen, along with Baz Gray, was part of Jarvis's three-man team that traversed the glaciers of South Georgie from

King Haakon Bay King Haakon Bay, or King Haakon Sound, is an inlet on the southern coast of the island of South Georgia. The inlet is approximately 13 km (8 miles) long and 4 km (2.5 miles) wide. The inlet was named for King Haakon VII of Norway by ...

to the now-abandoned whaling station of

Grytviken Grytviken ( ) is a settlement on South Georgia in the South Atlantic and formerly a whaling station and the largest settlement on the island. It is located at the head of King Edward Cove within the larger Cumberland East Bay, considered the b ...

, thus completing the replica journey undertaken by Shackelton and his men in 1916.

References

1970 births Australian male sailors (sport) Living people {{Australia-yachtracing-bio-stub