Barry sailor back on dry land (From Barry And District News)

Barry sailor back on dry land

BARRY had double reason to celebrate last week.

Not only had the Tall Ship Stavros S Niarchos arrived, but it had also safely returned Barry sailor Amy Hill.

The 18-year-old has spent 11 days on the ship after she received a grant through the Amelia Trust Farm in Barry.

After joining the rest of the crew in Liverpool, Amy sailed over to Dun-Laoghaire, near Dublin in the Republic of Ireland.

The ship then took her south to the small town of Cove, before crossing the Irish Sea on her way back to Barry for Thursday, September 12th.

"It was quite a rough crossing during the last night," Amy said.

"The weather was really bad so we were thrown all over the place.

"Quite a lot of people were sick!"

The office worker joined crew members from Scotland, Ireland, Spain and England on the trip.

"It was a really, really strange feeling coming into my home town like this, with all the people waiting," she said.

"You don't usually see the town from that side!"

Among Amy's daily chores, she had to steer the ship, take weather charts and help out with the watches night and day.

"Sometimes we had to stay up until midnight," she said.

"Other times we would have to get up at midnight."

The Cadoxton girl also had to help let down the sails by scaling the dizzying heights of the masts.

"I was a bit nervous at first, but I soon got used to it," she said.

"I definitely learnt a lot about sailing.

"I would definitely do it again given the chance."

Amy found out about the possibility of helping out on the Stavros Niarchios from a friend who sailed on the sister ship Prince William last year. Both ships are run by the Sail Training Association charity.