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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_KnBKriGog&feature=popular
Worth a look. I wonder if Earthrace got stuck/or accidently put in forward. After the smash it is clearly reversing whereas in the seconds before impact it is clearly full forward into the bigger boat. I wonder if they had prop & rope issues from the ropes allegedly being towed to foul the Japanese props?
I don’t buy the ‘it’s his heart and soul’ line.. they’ve been trying to sell it for a couple of years.
Best thread in ages.
Oh that solves it then.
Why bother with the various contradictory evidence when The Standard can play judge, jury and executioner?
It is pretty clear on most you-tube footage that the ship turned towards the boat, they also continued trying to hose them off after ramming them. The japanese government has made this a governemtal issue and all our government is going to do is throw a wet bus ticket at it. I dont agree with whaling, but this is more about the descision to ram a smaller boat and because of potential trade issues we will let them get away with it.
There was a comment that if you cant stand the heat then get out of the kitchen. Luckily we didnt think like that in 1939.
What about New Zealands whale spotting tourism industry?
I bet they would love people to visit Mt Fuji with bulldozers…
The NZ Govt cannot interfere with foreign flagged vessels in international waters. Doing so would be an act of war.
Moral high ground is hard to claim here. I’ve seen the video and think both captains were reckless, the Japanese should have turned away before they got so close, and the Ady Gil does look like it’s motors start up shortly before the collision.
The best thing to do is to stack the IWC with more anti-whaling nations. There are a few landlocked European countries that have joined to oppose whaling, we should find some more.
this subject is very comfusing
Bethune has made a stupid mistake, he should have just taken the money and come back to New zealand, Instead of getting sucked into a bunch of murderous pirates called the Sea Shephered society. Who have the Skull and Crossbones symbolising death painted on all their ugly black ships.
The Earthracer looked pretty when it was painted silver, it looks ugly painted black especially after that whaler hit it.
Why are people defending the Sea Shepherd’s vigilanteism. Do you support we should have this kind of stupidity happening in NZ or around the world.
Fortunately we live in an enlightened country with a proper justice system and civilised norms. Not the southern Antartic where an extremist outlaw rabble can do what they want. It is not for nothing Sea Shepherd fly the pirate’s flag on their ships. Their ships are armed and specially fitted out to try to ram and sink other ships, they have sunk a few themselves. Now one of their has been sunk.
The renegade Paul Watson believes he is a law enforcement authority but he is just a jumped up vigilante who believes he is entitled to take any action necessary in support of his caused.
I see the right-wing trolls (and McCully apologists?) have moved in to muddy the waters. Don’t be confused Liam. Videos from the anti-whaling support ship have now surfaced which show that the Jap trawler deliberately rammed the Ady Gil.
After his comments on Radio NZ yesterday Murray McCully has shown he is not a fit person to hold his portfolio. He shoud be forced to resign!
If there had have been more vigilanteism in the past then maybe we would have more species of animal left on the planet.
If you think that laws and legislation are going to save us or this planet then you are kidding yourself.
The Sea Shepard folks expect others to follow the law but they see themselves as above the same laws. Utter BS.
@AMM – 4.27 – woah, that is a huge comment.
Oh man, if what you’re saying is true then it only adds weight to my comment that the government should be more involved with protecting the whales!
@Paul, yes what will the government be telling their grand kids about the non existent whales? Another thing that is extinct is my home internet connection
Went down last night and I don’t know why. 
About as B.S. as the Japanese “research” what findings have they got?? huh? Their greed will only end when the species have gone extinct.
the minke whales arent endangered Spud
I’ve been reading the comments on this and other threads. It’s certainly opened up a huge debate, but nothing I’ve heard or read has changed my mind about Pete and the actions of the Ady Gil crew. Yes, direct action can be confrontational, but sometimes that’s what it takes. If people never took risky protest action, some things would never change. I bet people were calling for the locking up of the Nuclear Free and 1981 Springbok Tour protestors, yet here we are today, proud of NZ’s stance on these things. And McCully made a complete idiot of himself with his comments yesterday but unfortunately, it won’t be the last time he embarrasses New Zealand.
The way the greed trade is going, they soon will be
vigilanteism is a bit of a strech isn’t it…. They were more irritating than anything. I don’t think they actually stopped any whales being killed. Also I read on the herald (I think?) that they were pushing the boundries of the law but they weren’t exactly breaking it with their protests…. Also sending a navy ship to mediate would not be considered an act of war, infact the jap may even be thankful as their presence may have restricted what Ady Gil could have done. All I wanted the govt. to do was to take some responsibility and ensure the safety of the people at sea. Take a stand for what you believe in (unless they support whaleing??) and don’t chicken out like little girls…… Not too much to ask is it??
They should trade in those silly little boats for a good Hunter-Killer class Soviet submarine.
I’m sure there are a few about going cheap – they should check TradeMe
They will be if the whaling nations keeps upping their kill.
It concerns me that people still defend the killing of whales and the ramming of ships doing all they can to protect them – esp knowing that twits like McCully are weak and unable to make a stand for something this important. What kind of country do we live in where the selling of meat is more important the the lives of our countrymen and woman – oh thats right – a national led country. Silly me to think that they and their supporters would actually have the appendages to stand frim for those who are unable to do so for themselves. This govt and it sorry and sad supporters continue to fail us as a country and as a peoples. Good luck to you if you find yourself in a situation where you need to have your govt stand up for you – because this and other examples just show you they will sell you out before you can blink. I hope you are proud of the this. After all – looks like the nat voters are reaping what was sowen!
As for Key – how dare he condone (by saying nothing he condones him) McCully after sitting and selling his PR spin as he opens the newest whale watching boat in Kaikoura. Too bad if that fails in future years because we sat by and let the whales get murdered. Typical.
I suppose the nautical version of never take a knife to a gunfight applies:
Never take a plastic boat to a ramming. A real Homer Simpson moment in the South Seas by Pete Buffoon et al.
Again, I ask why the outcry from New Zealand re the hunting of whales, while we watch our own Paua (for example) making it’s own merry way to extinction through unsustainable but legal harvesting. Or do we only want to save the cuddly animals?
spud have a look at some of the weapons on sea shepherd http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_6v5bcVSS4
He was just protecting his boat from intruders and rammers. I’m sure people on other boats weren’t saints to him.
@Anne: http://www.hollywoodtoday.net/2009/06/09/whale-wars-sea-shepherd-nets-anthony-kiedis-and-rick-rubins-support/
In an interview discussing Whale Wars, a program on Animal Planet, Paul Watson sais: “I was one of the co-founders of Green Peace and I got tired of protesting. I wanted an organization that would intervene while upholding the law…We’ve never been convicted of a crime, we’ve never injured anybody and the reason we’ve never been convicted…after sinking TEN whaling ships and destroying millions of dollars worth of equipment is we’re actually going against criminal operations…We’re actually an anti-poaching organization.”
These people are pirates and should be dealt with as such. Good riddance to the Ady Gil
Poachers is a damn good word to use for the Japanese!
Spider pig, why haven’t the whalers taken him to court then?
They’ve got more financial and governmental support than he has, so what’s their excuse?
Seems to me they either know they haven’t got case against him, (which is his claim from your helpful quote) or they know it would be a disaster in the court of public opinion, both internationally and domestically. If taking these ‘pirates’ to court was a winner either legally or politically they would have done it.
@ N, athan Mills – I didn’t know about the paua
I’d get onboard to save them.
I thought it was the poaching of paua that was the problem. Rough and ready google seems to confirm.
Sure, that impacts on what the legal harvest should be, partly because it’s hard to work out what a sustainable take is when there is widespread poaching going on. but to claim that the legal harvest is what’s doing the damage ignores the poaching.
I think poachers should be hit a lot harder.
In any case, it’s a distraction. no one legally harvesting and selling paua for food claims it’s all just scientific research.
What’s the stockpilke of unsold whale meat at the mo anyhoo. Still in the thousands of tonnes?
sea shepherd and paul watson are liars and pirates spud, if you dont know a liar when you see one then you are Please try and not be abusive. Wee bit deleted Trevor greenpeace won’t have anything to do with sea shepherd because they are violent thugs who use sabotage and violence to make their point
Arrr me lass, I don’t know if you be right, but I do consider dem whales to be real treasure arrrr.
Thanks Darien for your post and your excellent wrap-up @ 10.35am. It’s good that those of us who feel strongly were given a chance to vent our respective spleens.
@ Mel Barker. Why don’t you go back to Kiwiblog from whence I suspect you came.
Of course they rammed the damn boat. They were trying to put a ship full of workers out of their job so they wouldn’t be able to provide for their wife and children for a while. If I found a paying job and someone was trying to tell me the I didn’t have the right to have it I’d be pretty mad too.
We kill cows and chicken and pigs and they kill Whales. Everyone has to make a living somehow.
What makes a whale so much more amazing than a cow or a chicken or a pig? And if it’s the way they kill the whales your concerned about, how about the way WE raise and kill countless animals, who will never know life outside a cage, to kill and eat?
Minister, Mr McCully, I do hope you will not be intimidated by the claims of the Green Party people that are asking for the Skipper of the Whaling Boat to be prosecuted, what ever one’s views are on the harvesting of whales, they the Japanese have some sort of agreement, for a quota, it is not for protesters to get so angry as to drag ropes to foul the propellers of the whalers, and to have the audacity to aim a laser beam at the helmsman, of said boat, like most Auckland’s I have had a bit of sailing experience, the filming of the collision from the protesters clearly shows the whaler was turning to Port, the correct action. One has to ask is the skipper of the Trimaran reckless he had previously run a boat down with the loss of a life.
Sincerely John Poole
Te Atatu Pen
sorry trev
@spud – you make a mighty fine ‘pirate’ and defender of whale honour!! lol (and paua – and on that – i’m with P Bookie – get tougher on the poachers – and @Nathan – bringing the paua in seems a smokescreen to distract others from the issue of whales…)
@Nathan- I’m for saving paua too but that’s not what the thread is about….. As for your statement that they could be killing less whales that their aloted quota, I reckon that you know that is not true…… If it were the Jap would be CRAZY….;)
dammit my comment took forever to post maybe it will b ignored o well
No, it’s not a distraction bringing up Paua. My point is that the Japanese, whether we like it or not, aren’t doing anything they’re not allowed to under international law. Just because YOU find it something which is acceptable under their culture as completely reprehensible doesn’t make it wrong, and it’s an arrogant attitude to take.
My point regarding the Paua is that we find it acceptable to “hunt” and eat them, despite research showing that they are endangered. Why is it OK for us to do that, yet you are up in arms about the Japanese doing the same with whales?
@D, ylan – “We kill cows and chicken and pigs and they kill Whales. Everyone has to make a living somehow.”
- Yes, but we kill our OWN chickens etc. We don’t go hunting in the Japanese countryside for them now do we. (I’m not saying these animals roam there).
“What makes a whale so much more amazing than a cow or a chicken or a pig?” – We farm these animals and breed more of them. They hunt them and leave us with less of them.
“how about the way WE raise and kill countless animals, who will never know life outside a cage, to kill and eat?”
You’re right there, it’s terrible the way some places treat their animals. All the more reason to buy free range and stand up to those whalers who are murdering those poor whales.
p.s. Are you a newbie, newbies always get moderated.
Most cultures adapt over time, we gave up living in caves and no longer have to churn the butter. They need to adapt to the fact that our ecosystem needs those whales left alone.
“we kill our OWN chickens etc. We don’t go hunting in the Japanese countryside for them now do we. (I’m not saying these animals roam there).”
That’s a false analogy. The Japanese weren’t hunting on NZ territory. They are hunting in International territory where NZ government does not have legal authority.
True, but it’s a lot closer to OUR country than to theirs.
S, id – why are you tories defending the whalers? They have nothing to blubber about.
From what I have heard they farm the minke whales and they arent endangered, sure maybe they should farm less if they are on the road to making them endangered
I am just saying you have to be empathetic and consider that every country needs its resources and if it was your own country that was farming whales maybe you would think twice before protesting because it would be your local/national economy that would suffer for it and it could be someone in your family who could be out of a job.
I could believe that of some nordic country like Greenland, though climate change is being kind to them, but come on Japan need whales for economy? I doubt it! They have their car industry!
Well it is a source of oil and most countries are pretty dependent on oil. they get oil from the whales blubber. and weather its a contribution or not it would still have an effect if they really are whaling as much as people claim.
lots of animals are hunted in the wild spud, possums and pigs for example. fish is caught in the open sea. the minke whale isn’t being hunted to extinction, there are a lot more fish species being overfished
@D, ylan – Oil, I thought they were hunting for research
You mean they weren’t being honest? You can also get oil from the ground 
“Lots of animals are hunted in the wild spud, possums and pigs for example.” – Yes.
“fish is caught in the open sea.” And in barrels I hear.
“the minke whale isn’t being hunted to extinction” – It soon will be the way the Japs are going. 
“there are a lot more fish species being overfished.” Yep, those resources need to be managed better.
please don’t call them japs spud, the IWC sets the number of whales to be hunted for scientific purposes and the Japanese aren’t taking more than their quota, nobody seriously says the minkes will become extinct at curent quota levels