OUTRAGE! Ady Gil (Earthrace) trimaran rammed and sunk by whalers!

Okay, this time I believe the Japanese Whalers, and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society are full of B.S.

Do understand that whales and dolphins are something I get 'emotionally involved' about.
I come from a seafaring family and from my experience with boats and ships, this claim sounds just a bit fishy to me.

Given the relative sizes and performances of the vessels, that Ady Gil trimaran was sure as hell able to maneuver with more agility than Shonan Maru No.2. http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/17479913#video=17482247

So I ain't buying the "Shonan Maru No. 2 rammed Ady Gil on purpose" line - TOTAL B.S.

Well, he sure as hell did that,

http://www.neatorama.com/tag/ady-gil/

So, what they're telling me is a 52 meter long, 400ton, 12 knot max speed ship cornered and ran down a 40 knot, 26ton, yacht?

Tell me again, the 400 ton 12 knot boat outmanouvered the 26 ton 40 knot boat?

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
http://www.researchvessels.org/ship_info_display.asp?shipID=368

A 12 knot, 171ft/52m, ship cornered and ran down a 40 knot, 78ft/24m, yacht?
Ain't that a bit like saying a crow was cornered in open pasture and run down by a bull?

Wait a minute, Ady Gil, is even faster - 50kt!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=231x20052

SSCS, you guys are seriously working on losing your credibility with me.

I'm actually quite angry at SSCS for destroying such an amazing boat that several people put a lot of effort into creating and gave to help out SSCS.

Ady Gil was originally Earthrace, here's it's specs
http://www.earthrace.net/index.php?section=18

 

With respect liki, I think the whaler's starboard turn is the crux here, and with the water cannon blinding the portside view from the AG, it would have been difficult to know where the whaler was. It is unreasonable to say that the AG put itself in the other vessel's path - I mean self-sacrifice may be noble, but high risk of death in the Southern Ocean? ....very unlikely. It's pretty clear the Japanese skipper knew what he was doing.

 

Mr Balsa, Your argument is logical. But it accounts for what the vessels are CAPABLE of doing, not what they WERE doing at the time. BTW - I agree about the boat and the time and materials and input from others, my family included - I'm not being one eyed about this, SS are not blameless as I said before.

Maybe we need a full maritime inquiry to sort this out - but either way, back to my original point - this conflict has escalated, and it must not be allowed to continue like this, regardless of who rams whom (as I have said above too).

I'm bailing out for what remains of the night's sleep (1.30 am here). I've emailed the Aussie ministers, tomorrow I will write to the Japanese ministers and SS. If they all rcvd thousands of emails from salty folk the world over, they might feel just a little bit of pressure to back off. Call me an idealist... goodnight.

 

What I'm implying there bad dog, is that old saying, "You can't make someone do something they don't want to do."

SSCS Ady Gil had sufficient capability and agility to not get run over.

They chose to not use it.

********.

They're going to get people killed.



As an aside, my Dad retired 1986 as a USN Commander and spent a good many years on FRAM 1 & FRAM 2 DDs playing chicken with the Russkis.
Interesting sea stories that man has.

 

One thing this video does not show is the Other SIDE of the whaling ship.

For those of you claiming this was an 'attack' by the whalers against the sea Shepherd because the larger boat appears to turn toward the smaller boat, just how many of you have been on the bridge of a boat that size? We currently do not know if the helmsmen of the whaling boat
A: Can see the bat boat, and
B: Was not in the process of avoiding a third boat ahead and on the other side.

There is another video taken from the Sea Shepherd's vessel Bob Barker, but it too does not clearly show what is ahead and off to the other side.

Frankly the Bat Boat is a small, nimble, powered craft, and clearly the crew was awake and manning the boat. If they allowed themselves to get close enough to get hit, it was their own damn idiotic fault, and they deserved to lose their boat.

They deliberately interfered with another vessel that was (as far as I can see.) lawfully underway. The fact that it was a whaling vessel Does not matter.

Personally the actions such as Sea Shepherds hurts the cause more than it helps. It supports the view of "Stupid crazy pot smoking hippies" that too many people have, and I've been considering starting my own environmental group to oppose such actions. Every time some 'environmentalist' engages in violent/illegal/or simply idiotic and dangerous methods of protest, everyone in the group will go and buy/support the activities in question. I've never had whale meat before, but seems like as good of reason to try it as any other.

 

I don't know, if a large boat is Close enough to hit you with water cannons in the open ocean then it might be a sign that You are too bloody close and should get the hell out of the way!

 

I would guess the ultimate collision to be the result of an incorrect estimate and blinded vision, but I would find both parties guilty of bad seamanship for allowing it to happen. The facts available are hardly adequate.

Will this be handled under Australian jurisdication?

 

I'm not buying the blinded line: the 3 or 4 folks "Standing Watch" on AG's aft deck could probably count the rivets on the Maru - look again here http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/17479913#video=17482247

They could very well have called guidance to the AG's pilot.
A simple "Hard to starboard and floor it NOW!" would have done nicely.

(so, how long till we have a winner for a Darwin Award?)

 

It's very easy to understand - it just doesn't mean much because there are no substantial consequences for disobeying. I'm happy to break laws I disagree with personally if the fine is only $20. In the same way, nations choose to play along with laws that don't conflict too much with their interests, and they ignore other laws as long as the consequences aren't too punitive.

The way I see it, Japan flagrantly buys support for its whaling activities on some commissions; "anti-whaling" nations trade moral indignation with countries that don't care one way or the other. And after all that wheeling and dealing, the anti-whaling lobby can't muster sufficient numbers so some of their supporters resort to vigilantism and illegal activities. Warm up youtube and pass the popcorn!

What's the betting that a whale-hugger will win a Darwin Award in 2010?

 

As my dad used to say, "sometimes, stupidity is a capital offense."

Those idiots are out there deliberately attacking ships and trying to disable them. If they get themselves run over while doing so, I call it an act of self defense on the part of the Japanese whalers.

Nor am I impressed by all the carrying-on about whaling being illegal; what the activists are doing is sure as hell illegal too. They're exhibiting the same blind fanaticism that allows people to murder abortion doctors, in the name of protecting the sanctity of human life.

 

I bet the value of this year's text books (in book form from my side) that at least one will die. (Sadly they can't have reproduced and earn a Darwin Award from my understanding, so I'll hedge my bet a little.)

 

Ive watched the video and I dont see

A. any boat Cut in half
B. Any boat sinking
C. A definite power surge by the bat boat at the last moment under the bows of the oncoming whaler......

and as someone has already said, the batboat could have stayed out of the way if it wanted to with relative ease.
On the other hand , I do agree with what they are doing, so I am sort of caught between a rock and a hard place on this one.

J

 

I'm not so intrested what some idiots do (right or wrong) but... I haven't seen a map where Australia has a territory in the Antarctic. Some claims maybe but I'm not aware of international regocnition of such.. Another nation with flagpoles in the deep sea bottom

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Antarctic_Territory

It has Australia in the name so it's ours. You know, like the USA and South America.

 

I prefer to think of it as down-sizing our mammalian requirements.