Val Cummins was always going to choose the sea. As a teen, she didn’t quite know in which capacity, but her curiosity about a vessel named Asgard II was what kicked off her maritime and marine escapades. “It was an absolutely beautiful national sail training vessel; it just captured my imagination. I read about it somewhere and when I was 16 I wrote a letter to a lady called Lillian White, Coiste an Asgard, Department of Defence, Kildare Street, Dublin. I still remember the details. “I got myself a part-time job in Roches Stores in Cork, saved up the money…