Inevitable?

[arthwollipot]

I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later:

Whalers hit Sea Shepherd boat

'Miracle' no-one dead in Sea Shepherd collision

Australia's hands tied as whaling war deepens

What happens when you poke a tiger with a stick? The tiger bites back. This was an inevitable consequence of this whole sad stupid story.

 

[ARubberChickenWithAPulley]

I don't know enough about whales to agree or disagree with Japan's whale hunt, but it's laughable to hear the Sea Shephard people whine about this. They go out there with the sole purpose of harrassing and assaulting people. What did they expect would happen?

 

[cyclonic]

Yea its time to tell the japanese the truth, it wasn't the whales that dropped the bomb on hiroshima, it was afghanistan.

 

[lionking]

Despite this claim:

"The vessel was dead in the water. It was completely and absolutely a wilful act,"

This is reported in the usually sympathetic "Age":

Video footage released by Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research last night showed the Ady Gil gradually increasing in speed into the path of the Japanese ship, countering the Sea Shepherd claim that the Ady Gil was not moving when it was hit

Very true, achickenwitharubberpully, a bunch of whiners.

 

[NYCEMT86]

From what I have seen on whale wars and other news articles from this organization, I wouldn't be too surprised if they deliberately placed the boat in the path of the Japanese ship. Publicity at its finest.

 

[arthwollipot]

My opinion is that they deliberately provoked the Japanese in order to have something to whip people into an uproar about.

It doesn't seem to be working.

 

[arthwollipot]

I don't know enough about whales to agree or disagree with Japan's whale hunt...

As far as I've been able to tell, the whales that are being hunted are from endemic species, like Minkes, and not endangered ones. However, I still fail to see the purpose behind the hunt, and I think that the position of "scientific" whaling is a sick joke.

 

[rjh01]

The way to win the war is to win the hearts and mines of the Japanese public. Once they stop buying whale meant whales will no longer be hunted by the Japanese. This will do nothing to do that.

 

[lionking]

As far as I've been able to tell, the whales that are being hunted are from endemic species, like Minkes, and not endangered ones. However, I still fail to see the purpose behind the hunt, and I think that the position of "scientific" whaling is a sick joke.

Yeah, it is not scientific research at all, but as you say the minkes are not endangered - abundant, as I understand - and I have no major moral dilemmas about hunting them for food in limited numbers.

What Sea Shepherd does is so close to piracy it doesn't matter.

 

[quadraginta]

I don't give a darn whose fault it is. That was the Ady Gil. Used to be Earthrace.

Trashing this boat is a tragedy.

 

[KingMerv00]

The best thing Paul Watson can do for the whales is quit. He comes across as a pompous ineffective jerk.

 

[Cynic]

What happens when you poke a tiger with a stick? The tiger bites back. This was an inevitable consequence of this whole sad stupid story.

It's funny you should use the word "tiger". This incident reminded me all day of that Greenpeace boat called "little fighter" that got run over by an oil tanker in the 80s for similar reasons -- they parked it in front of a larger ship and were surprised when it couldn't stop on a dime after all.

So this band called Glass Tiger had a quasi-popular song called "Little Tiger" that was about that, complete with a video of the footage. Glass Tiger was a really horrible band. Their only other popular song that I'm aware of was a remake of a Golden Earring song (Radar Love). Golden Earring should have sued...

So anyway, yeah -- don't park your boat in front of a moving vehicle!

 

[lionking]

According to reports (#4) it wasn't parked at all but accelerated into the path of the Japanese ship.

 

[quadraginta]

This link is footage from the deck of the Shonan Maru. It does not convince me that the Ady Gil took action which caused the collision. Judging from her wake and prop wash I don't see signs of speed or acceleration.

I also have trouble believing that the Ady Gil's skipper would sacrifice her.

I admit to a great deal of bias, so I'm reserving judgment, and fighting my prejudice.

 

[dropzone]

Who was it who, after being thrown out of Greenpeace for being too radical, loaded a Liberty Ship with concrete and rammed a whaler with it? Agree or not agree, this was at least less passive-aggressive than letting a whaler ram his ship.

 

[rjh01]

This link is footage from the deck of the Shonan Maru. It does not convince me that the Ady Gil took action which caused the collision. Judging from her wake and prop wash I don't see signs of speed or acceleration.

I also have trouble believing that the Ady Gil's skipper would sacrifice her.

I admit to a great deal of bias, so I'm reserving judgment, and fighting my prejudice.

From the 16 second mark shows the collision. The Ady Gil was not at rest. You can clearly see the wake from that ship.

However the law of the sea says you should give way to the right. That is the direction from which Ady Gil was.

 

[arthwollipot]

However the law of the sea says you should give way to the right. That is the direction from which Ady Gil was.

And who expects a large heavy whaler to be able to quickly get out of the way of a fast, streamlined trimaran like that?

 

[quadraginta]

From the 16 second mark shows the collision. The Ady Gil was not at rest. You can clearly see the wake from that ship.

However the law of the sea says you should give way to the right. That is the direction from which Ady Gil was.

Yes, yes. I can see a wake, and I can see the prop wash. It does not look like either high speed or acceleration to me. Sorry. That much prop wash can come from keeping station.

I'm not trying to make a case anyway. I really don't know, and don't have enough info to make more than a half-assed guess, which is more than I want to do.

I just hate the loss of that boat. Sure another one could be built, but it probably won't. That was a one-off craft for a specific purpose, and only happened because a wealthy man with a passion made it happen. His passion wasn't saving whales. Sea Shepherd got a dis-guarded rich man's toy.

BTW. You need to work on your rules of right of way. The Shonan Maru was coming up on the Ady, that means the Ady had right of way. I can even find you cases where skippers of boats as large have lost their permits when small sailboats sailed right across their bows, twice in a row, before they got hit.

 

[quadraginta]

And who expects a large heavy whaler to be able to quickly get out of the way of a fast, streamlined trimaran like that?

Earthrace (the Ady Gil) wasn't designed either to change course quickly or to slam into reverse. If she was keeping station closely enough to the Shonan Maru's course it is entirely possible that the Shonan Maru could have changed course and collided without the Ady being able to evade. In addition whalers, for their size, are very maneuverable. Much more so than many people would expect for a vessel that size.

I am not saying that this is what happened. I am saying that it is quite feasible. I don't know what happened, and I'm not trying to make a case.

 

[pchams]

So, stop hunting whales if they are endangered!

What's the problem? It's not like the Canadian seal hunt where it's a sustainable population and the seal over-population encroachs on the fish population which everyone is trying to net and freeze.