By now everyone will have worked out that the Ady Gil, the boat that has been all but destroyed in the whaling collision in the Antartica is New Zealander Pete Bethune’s boat – formerly known as the Earthrace.
Pete Bethune is a great New Zealander and deserves more support than he’s currently getting from the government. I’m shocked to hear McCully ducking for cover on this one when five New Zealander’s lives have been put at risk by a ship that is breaking international (and maritime) law. .
Earthrace looks like something from Mars, but is a brilliantly designed boat. It’s a tri-hull wavepiercer and it can submarine up to 7m underwater. She can travel over 13,000 nautical miles (over half way around the planet) on a single tank of fuel and she runs on 100% biodiesel made from sustainable sources. It took almost three years to build, relying on an army of volunteers.
Pete Bethune made history in the Earthrace in 2008 by beating the record for a powerboat to circumnavigate the globe by more than two weeks.
Now Earthrace is wrecked. They say it may be unrecoverable and could sink. The local schools, environmental groups, students and skilled professionals who donated their time to complete Earthrace will be gutted.
I’m sure that McCully and Co would have been lining up to congratulate Pete when he broke the world circumnavigation record. There’s no lining up now – except perhaps with the Japanese government.
My thoughts are with Pete and the crew as they fight to salvage Earthrace.
If the Japanese think this will stop him in his stand against whaling, however, they should think again.
Mel, are you out there watching them, cause if you arn’t how do you know how many whales they are killing??
Okay, M, el , you’re right not all the Japanese are doing this.
How do you know they aren’t taking more than their quota? Lots of people are worried about the minkes. What exactly IS their research anyway? The science of eating?
I’ll call them poachers!
Watch it Spud. Mel seems to have a bit of a pash on you. She’s(?) even telling you what you can and can’t say.
Oops, I just read that!
No, I’ll take Melanie but Melvin
can look elsewhere.
haha it’s melissa spud
noexit, that’s a very good point, how do you know they’re taking more than their quota?! Have the Sea Shepherds released figures?
@Melissa – good to know
I have a feeling that it would be more than their quota just because of the value of whale meat and oil. It surly couldn’t be less as they have been fighting for an increase in quota. It would be like paying for the largest data cap on your broadband plan and only using half……. BTW even if sea shepherd did release figures I wouldn’t think they are 100% accurate. I want to see figures from the likes of IWC et al.
OMG. Is Mel Barker really Melissa Lee?
stop being such a b*tch anne
sorry spud but she keeps attacking me for no reason
You’ve got no sense of humour Melissa? It was an attempt to introduce a bit of levity to a post which has evoked strong feelings all round. Spud recognised it. You could have joined in.
The comments by McCully are an absolute disgrace .NZeds has a love affair with whales surely the comments by this Minister will disturb them. Maori have a special affinity with Whales and it will be most interesting to see how they will react . I believe we can make a dent in the ‘Honeymooners’over this issue ,We must not let it be bypassed.
Wow, so your interest in the welfare of whales only extends to how much you can use them to make a dent in the current government? That’s kinda sick, and probably not an attitude shared by many at all.
“True, but it’s a lot closer to OUR country than to theirs.”
So you will have no problem if the Japanese kill whales closer to their country? So this is about territory now?
“S, id – why are you tories defending the whalers?”
I’m just against bad argument. The problem with embracing bad argument for what one thinks is a good cause is that, you don’t really know you’re fighting for a good cause until you sort out your arguments first.
People have different reasons for going for or against something. I’m against whaling if the animal is endangered.
I don’t know if it is or it is not as it is not my area of expertise, but I’m just saying that if it is endangered, then I’m against whaling.
“They have nothing to blubber about.”
And your point?
S, id. “So you will have no problem if the Japanese kill whales closer to their country? So this is about territory now?” – No, it’s about the whales, but the fact that it’s our part of the world makes it even more annoying.
I’m happy with my arguments, so let’s agree to disagree on that.
“They have nothing to blubber about.”
” And your point?” – That was my point. The whalers were in a bigger vessel and came to no harm, unlike those poor whales, so I have no sympathy for them.
Environmental extremists should have a rethink of their strategy instead of constantly pretending to be the victims. They are just as obsessed with their own cause as are the whalers; they have no business policing the oceans and taking the law into their own hands.