I was surprised a few months ago when I heard that Earthrace was joining Sea Shepherd (being renamed to Ady Gil). And just before they set off I was talking to my friend Lance who shot with Earthrace for their record attempt and asked if he or the other cameraman, Ryan, were going along. He said he wasn't but that he'd been offered insane money to shoot with Sea Shepherd for Discovery's Whale Wars series, which he'd not taken up. HE said it was basicly danger money...

Anyway a couple of days ago the Ady Gil was involved in a collision with a much much larger Japanese vessel and has since sunk. Watching footage (it was well documented) I can see why they were offering crazy money...



For what it's worth, my opinion from having watched all the footage a number of times is that the Japanese vessel made a drastic course change to aim at the idling Ady Gil, which then began (too late) to attempt evasive action.

And the result so far?
NZ stands by the Japanese, we have a complete moron defending illegal whaling
(is that Murray McCully or Glenn Inwood? I can`t decide) whilst denouncing the only organization to challenge illegal activities in international waters voted against annually by those same countries bordering those oceans.
And so it seems that even International Maritime Law is swept aside since no embargo, trade restrictions or ANY political/legal action are brought to bare on anyone deliberately sinking a New Zealand vessel.

Get a grip.

This is some nutter's ship who deliberately provoke and run their boat in the way of a large ship.

Don't come crying to me if you get hurt while staging a protest where you put your body in front of large machines,.
Good for you if you think that whining and holding up placards is better then international political lobbying.
But don't say this is a New Zealand Protest or boat.

Crikey!
Don`t hold back mate..!!!

I don`t know you personally, but from your rather rude reply I`d say if I met you I definitely wouldn`t like you.
I don`t think you` d enjoy meeting me either, especially after your extremely disturbing personal remarks to me.
Let`s try to keep debates on this forum based in facts and truths rather than your obviously confused perceptions of what actually happened down there.

To side with the Japanese and ultimately support whaling speaks volumes about you mate.
From reading your previous posts you seem a fairly intelligent bloke so I recommend scuttling off and reading a little background on Sea Shepherd and then tell me that they are 'nutters' and "whining and holding up placards".
I think you are referring to Greenpeace there.
I don`t see you risking your life every day out in the most inhospitable conditions on the planet, for free, to try to prevent the extinction of species critical to the ecological balance of the whole planet, not just the Oceans (go read some more).

And the Ady Gil actually was registered as a New Zealand vessel.

Hell would freeze over before I`d 'come crying' to the likes of you.

I had someone bring this discussion to my attention requiring moderating.

One thing I love about our community is that people can say what they want and what they feel without any form of moderation at all.

We are all allowed our views and i love that people can bring in political views to technical discussions, nothing is ever so black and white. Just be aware that moderators can intervene should they become personal.

All your views are important to us no matter how diverse and only through discussion can we ever grow.

Personally, I would love for you both to meet because I would think that you would both bring an intelligent argument to the debate.


Cheers
Yves

My reply was rude?

I certainly didn't mean it as a personal attack against you per se.
Rather on the victim mentality when someone puts them selves in unnecessary danger.
Or people who go off and do their own thing, independent of their countries process then come whining back when it all goes pear shaped.

You have personally attacked me now though; feel better?


Hmmm, where did I support whaling?
I certainly don't see how "Japanese" are responsible for one ships crew taking a dangerous maneuver in international waters.
Much like the Ady Gil may have been registered in New Zealand, it is not a national sponsored voyage of protest.


Yeah you got me there!
I thought they were the same bunch of dorks who were throwing stuff on the boats a while back.
I would bet the skipper of the Japanese boat thought the same.
Well I take it back if these guys were peaceful, or not there to stir up trouble.


And why should I?
I vote, sign petitions, and support governments working to ban whaling and climate damage in international conferences and courts.

Let me be more clear, as my post was obviously misinterpreted.

I want Whaling banned, but I want it done right.
What I want is for New Zealand to take the high ground, and not slog it out in some Tit for Tat sea fight.
New Zealand, and whale protesters should be smarter; spend money on advertising in Japan.
I go to Japan once a year and tell everyone I know what whaling is doing.
Personally I go out of my way to show my Japanese friends websites and facts about whaling.
It has been growing, and if enough people say "no more" in Japan, it will come to pass; the new government is much more in favor of listening to people.
But when they see one of their ships get bothered, and then damaged by these protesters it does the opposite.
Our news is biased to making it all sound like it was all the Japanese vessels fault, their news says it was the Ady's fault; our government obviously thinks it is in the middle.
Either way it has done nothing to help either side to be more understanding.

Protesters should study who they are aiming their protest at, and who they want to support them.
It may be great to have more New Zealand support against whaling, but they already have it.
They need to get Japanese support to stop whaling; and we just lost it again.


You did suggest "embargo, trade restrictions" which would affect me, so essentially you were asking for my help.

If you hate "japanese" so much, why not do your own trade embargo?
Feel free to stop shooting with your Panasonic, Sony, Canon... oh wait our industry is built on Japanese technology?.


Wow! I am glad you saw sense and didn't "moderate" this discussion.
I really didn't get personal to anyone here, I didn't say anything rude.

I really hate it when people are so close minded that they think when someone argues against protesters being idiots, that somehow they agree with the negative side.
Or that protesters somehow need to be protected more, or can do no wrong if their cause is right.
That's certainly not always the case.
And really it's no surprise the government is staying out of this battle; it's a personal fight between skippers, and New Zealand needs Japan.

Let's discuss child smacking next? just kidding.

Glenn Inwood used to coach my kids soccer team.

Was he any good, Stephen.

I'm giving up asahi dry for lent...

Grant.

He was ok... he didn't blubber if we lost.

....Haha!!
Brilliant: 'blubber', saw that coming!

Grant, your website is VERY cool, any Kakapo mating calls on record?
What range and frequency are their calls when they are fully 'inflated'!!
Only in NZ is there a flightless bird that climbs to the highest hill and puffs himself up like a basketball to get a root!


I`m sending everything with SONY on it back to Japan tomorrow, anybody want to share a container?

For some clarification on the legitimacy and appropriateness of taking direct action to save endangered species as opposed to entrusting 'diplomacy' to our MPs and sitting waiting for talks to solve issues......

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-med ... 224-1.html

Hang on a sec, that describes our (aussie) parliament perfectly.....

While we are talking about government inaction, the Aust PM, Kevin Rudd has only just decided to speak to the japs, and mention the words "international law", "court", "Japan", "Illegal" and "whaling" in the same sentence two years after he promised to take bold action.

The latest is that the japs and Aust have agreed to disagree....

Personally, It'd be nice if someone donated a couple of old Soviet Kilo Class subs to the Sea Shepherd, and made an artificial reef out of the whaling fleet....

Ben

My two cents...

I hate and abhore whaling..partially as a result of swimming/ filming humpbacks off tahiti...

What is clear from the video is that Earthrace actually accelerates into the oncoming whaler....watch and rewatch the wake of Earthrace. I have watched multiple times the view from the Sea Sheperd and whether the whaler changes course is contenstable. The basic optical illusion is that the whaler is turning to port...or away from the EarthRace. Wave movement makes it too hard to pick but my bet is that it holds course straightahead....

The Earthrace would be fitted with reverse thrusters but clearly the vessel moves forward and forces the collision.

The morality of this move is contestable...With the potential of loss or damage of human life a good possibility. But history shows that change is often effected only by radical action.

What is clear is that we should not feel moral outrage at the loss of Earthrace, as this was clearly a predetermined course of action....which is gonna make good TV...

Dan, I've watched the video many many times, and that's simply not what happens.

The Ady Gil was sitting at idle for a good 4-5 minutes before the collision. The engines were only put into forward in the last 5-7 seconds before impact as a reaction to the Shonan Maru's agressive course alteration that saw it bearing down directly on the Ady Gil.

Yes, at that last moment the Shonan Maru was turning to port, possibly a last minute attempt to avoid the collision, but Ady Gil's forward movement was fairly minimal.

From some reports I've read the Ady Gil has no reverse thrusters, and actually doesn't reverse well at all, while I don't know the specifics the idea that it doesn't reverse well was reinforced by a person I know who has actually spent time on the boat (when it was Earthrace).

In general Sea Shepherd isn't shy of deliberate collisions, but it's insane to believe that they would deliberate allow or engineer a collision between the small fibregalss Ady Gill and a huge steel-hulled whaler - the risk of fatalities was incredibly high, a couple of metres further astern and the crew would have been hit directly and the boat would have sunk almost immedately.