Tall orders for ship’s best mate

Cork sailor Olivia Van Walleghem tells Jonathan deBurca Butler about the buzz of taking part in the Tall Ships Race in Dublin

WHEN Olivia Van Walleghem answers the phone a loud crackle shoots across the line. The 22-year-old from Bishopstown in Cork is aboard a German tall ship, The Alexander Von Humboldt II and when we speak she is out at sea, ten miles from Dublin; the final destination of an exhilarating but exhausting 10-day journey from Spain.

“Amazing, it’s been really brilliant,” enthuses the UCD law graduate. “We boarded in La Coruna on Sunday 12th and then sailed out on the Monday and anchored. The race started on the Tuesday and we crossed the finish line [just south of Waterford] on Thursday at midnight. We did quite well in the race too. We came second.”