Earthrace sunk

[benjenbav]

This is clearly a major success for the Sea Shepherd group because it brings the issue to the forefront of world attention. Without it, the poor souls on Ady Gil would have spent weeks trolling around, neither achieving any publicity nor stopping any whaling activity.

 

[fergie_mac66]

IRPCS

GIL does increase power only marginaly but is going at safe speed .Whaler definitely turning to starboard as they hit(then turns to port when 2 late BUT Irpcs rule 15 the one with the other on starboard side shall giveway the (whaler) rule 6 safe speed: the whaler appears to be going at considerable speed more than it should be for close quarter manoeuvre Rule 17 standon maintains course and speed but may take action if colllision unavoidable

It looks to me as if the gil view was impeded by the hoses and was caught in a panic by the speed of the whaler(going at a considerable speed !) It also looks like gil increases power and starts to turn to starboard but without enough steerageway to make the turn befor the collision
Edit :the people on gil don't look to be expecting a collision all start running to back when they realise a collision is imminent

 

[Tommyrot]

It's a bit of a waste of time quoting colregs, the protesters have made a habit of playing "chicken" with the whaling boats. They deliberately put themselves in a dangerous position.
On every occasion I've seen on the "Whale wars" TV series, the Japs are the ones that take avoiding action every time.

The hoses are turned on them as another tactic is launching missiles, loaded with a chemical to taint the whalemeat, at the whaling boats.

Trailing warps hoping to tangle the whaler's prop is hardly good seamanship, another tactic used regularly.

How about protesting to the Jap government (maybe ram an official car or 2), or the folk who sign the agreements that let the whaling go ahead rather than endangering lives at sea.

 

[fergie_mac66]

It's a bit of a waste of time quoting colregs, the protesters have made a habit of playing "chicken" with the whaling boats. They deliberately put themselves in a dangerous position.

Agreed :
I forget the poem something about "he was right dead right ,but just as dead as if he was wrong"
somebody will remember it ..

 

[Firefly625]

This is clearly a major success for the Sea Shepherd group because it brings the issue to the forefront of world attention. Without it, the poor souls on Ady Gil would have spent weeks trolling around, neither achieving any publicity nor stopping any whaling activity.

... It was my first impression...

Looking at the video after reading the reports is a bit odd, the apparent the Ady Gil was "dead in the water prior to the ramming".... this is just not correct... the Ady Gil is clearing trolling along at 4 knots or so, then a spurt of power prior to the raming. I understand they had earthrace reinforced with kevlar after they purchased it for a reported $1m dollars (aus I assume), perhaps they thought this kevlar would protect them from the ramming? or even do some damage to the whaling ship?..... but whatever occured it gets this barbaric and needless whaling highlighted..... shame the rest of the worlds governments are so worried about upsetting the Japanese....

The report I saw said the Ady Gil was still floating

 

[Channel Ribs]

The way they publicised the boat when they did the re-spray was all about how they were going to intervene with it, not a sensible use of a boat described publicly as using "stealth" technology.

It was always going to be in a collision, it is what they wanted it for.

Far more sensible use of such a boat would be to stand off and monitor the whalers without attracting attention, but attention is all they seem to want.

Whaling should stop, but these guys do not seem to be up to the job.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

.. or if they have a helm station up top

Are you trying to suggest that they should have had a flybridge...? (ducks and runs for cover)

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[Kipper]

The way they publicised the boat when they did the re-spray was all about how they were going to intervene with it, not a sensible use of a boat described publicly as using "stealth" technology.

It was always going to be in a collision, it is what they wanted it for.

Far more sensible use of such a boat would be to stand off and monitor the whalers without attracting attention, but attention is all they seem to want.

Whaling should stop, but these guys do not seem to be up to the job.

Does seem like a drastic measure to get publicity, but you might well be right unless they yhought the boat was a lot tougher than it was.

 

[Tommyrot]

"The Sea Shepherd's owner and founder, Captain Paul Watson, said he planned to use the vessel to physically block Japanese harpoon ships"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ady_Gil#Record_attempts


Looks like he got his way then....

 

[KevB]

What a bunch of numb nuts. I hope the pilot/captain of the Ady Gil gets prosecuted. If you or I did the same in the English channel we would be.

 

[DAKA]

What a bunch of numb nuts. I hope the pilot/captain of the Ady Gil gets prosecuted. .

It appears the whaling ship is not actually a whaling ship, it was a Japanese security ship and not chasing a whale at the time.

As such you would not expect the Ady gil to be entering a combat zone with the ship, Ady gil was not trying to block a harpoon and there was not a whale requiring protection from the security ship.

Perhaps we owe the protesters the benefit of doubt Despite comments like .........

"Happy New Year to everyone except the whalers. To those scum: head's up, we're coming for ya." 7:18 AM Dec 31st, 2009 from web


As the Ady Gil sinks , another $5 m ship has just been donated by Bob Barker and is entering the combat zone.

 

[Hurricane]

Are you trying to suggest that they should have had a flybridge...? (ducks and runs for cover)

Cheers
Jimmy

Probably couldnt have coped with all those canvas bits.

 

[Nick_H]

Whaler definitely turning to starboard as they hit(then turns to port when 2 late

Yep, looking again I have a completely different take on it. Whaler is on a course which misses Ady Gil by a reasonable margin, Ady Gil in gear but in tickover running roughly parallel, probably taunting the whaler. Whaler then clearly turns to stbd, onto an immediate collision course with Ady Gil. Skipper of Ady Gil realises late (or plays a game of chicken), and then hammers the throttles to try and avoid the collision by outrunning the whaler, but it's too late and they get rammed. Whaler then turns to port. As such, if you ignore the provocation arguement, then fault is with the whaler.

 

[KevB]

Yep, looking again I have a completely different take on it. Whaler is on a course which misses Ady Gil by a reasonable margin, Ady Gil in gear but in tickover running roughly parallel, probably taunting the whaler. Whaler then clearly turns to stbd, onto an immediate collision course with Ady Gil. Skipper of Ady Gil realises late (or plays a game of chicken), and then hammers the throttles to try and avoid the collision by outrunning the whaler, but it's too late and they get rammed. Whaler then turns to port. As such, if you ignore the provocation arguement, then fault is with the whaler.

So what you are saying is the 52mtr 500ton boat turns to starboard and rams the Ady Gil when it's pratically along side

Even a blind man can see the Ady Gil powers into the BIG boat. Can't they..

 

[fergie_mac66]

Yep, looking again I have a completely different take on it. Whaler is on a course which misses Ady Gil by a reasonable margin, Ady Gil in gear but in tickover running roughly parallel, probably taunting the whaler. Whaler then clearly turns to stbd, onto an immediate collision course with Ady Gil. Skipper of Ady Gil realises late (or plays a game of chicken), and then hammers the throttles to try and avoid the collision by outrunning the whaler, but it's too late and they get rammed. Whaler then turns to port. As such, if you ignore the provocation arguement, then fault is with the whaler.

Actually since seeing this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rar9zxH1kts&annotation_id=annotation_558937&feature=iv

It looks more like the whaler turned to port to hit the gil looks almost deliberate Could be a, misinterpretation by the hlemsman of the whaler, of what gill was going to do but almost could easily have been deaths. IMO if there was it would have been manslaughter
Mind you Im sure gil has been provocatively stupid at other times

edit:note the turn to port just a few secs before the collision If that port turn hadn't of happened there wouldn't have been a collision

 

[KevB]

Lost all sympathy for the Ady Gil now...

Telegraph

Not that I had any

 

[fergie_mac66]

Lost all sympathy for the Ady Gil now...

Telegraph

Not that I had any

No doubt the gil was being stupid but the japs have been using the sonic weapons for months Long before the laser thing came it to play

Also from both the videos the laser wasn't being used during this incident the cameras would have picked up that green beam.It could be the japs were expecting them to use it tho.

 

[Tommyrot]

At least three threads in various forums going on at the same time, I've lost track, but somewhere amongst them is a video of the Ady Gill trailing a warp around the Jap boat and using the laser before the collision.

 

[Nick_H]

So what you are saying is the 52mtr 500ton boat turns to starboard and rams the Ady Gil when it's pratically along side

Even a blind man can see the Ady Gil powers into the BIG boat. Can't they..

Not so IMO, look more closely. This is a whaler remember, so I guess they have to be both powerful and manouverable (for their length) to chase and catch whales. At the start of the clip the whaler is clearly leaving the Ady Gil well to stbd, then without Ady Gil really moving anywhere, it's suddenly heading towards them. With the whaler then bearing down on them, the Ady Gil doesn't have time to engage reverse, so they gun their throttles to try and get away, but obviously there's a long lag even on a boat that fast, so they get rammed. I don't know what caused the whaler to veer to stbd, so perhaps it was wrong to approtion blame, but I think that's what happened, based on the video. Oh, and having a different opinion on it to you does not make me blind.

 

[Firefly625]

At least three threads in various forums going on at the same time, I've lost track, but somewhere amongst them is a video of the Ady Gill trailing a warp around the Jap boat and using the laser before the collision.

I think that's Jap editing for you.........

I just praise these guys, they do great work IMHO. They have to use dirty tactics like warp snagging , ramming etc. seems like a load a people think they should just wag a finger at these whaling ships, not quite sure what good that would do. They are taking direct action & I don't apologise for supporting them 100%.