Click for Glendinning Click for Mulder Click for Abeking Click for JetForums Click for YF Listing Service

Ady Gil (Earthrace) Sunk By Japanese Whalers

Discussion in 'YachtForums Yacht Club' started by Time, Jan 6, 2010.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2005
    Messages:
    7,388
    Location:
    My Office
  2. 84far

    84far Senior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2008
    Messages:
    794
    Location:
    Brisbane, AUS
  3. wdrzal

    wdrzal Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2006
    Messages:
    413
    Location:
    Allegheny Mountains of Western Pa
    Biodiesel ? made from Whale Blubber,How ironic would that be........:D
  4. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2005
    Messages:
    7,388
    Location:
    My Office
    Hi,

    I don't think Biodiesel would make much less of a slick than regular diesel as it is mostly diesel anyway.

    SS have done so much bleating about having removed everything that can pollute it is interesting to see in the Video posted by Geriksen in post No 91 there is a shiny patch on the water near and around the wreck which sure looks like a petroleum product floating on the surface.
  5. geriksen

    geriksen Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2007
    Messages:
    175
    Location:
    San Juan Puerto Rico
    I saw that too. Shouldn't they have opened up the strainers and scuttled it instead of just leaving it to drift around half sunk? Seems like "hazard to Navigation" to me. In that video you can see plenty of open sea around it.
    That video came from the Japanese so I don't think it was the Sea Sheperds last look. They appear to be long gone...
    Does anyone know if that boat has positive flotation? The Sea Shepards declared it sunk but that video tells a different story and they appear long gone.
  6. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2005
    Messages:
    7,388
    Location:
    My Office
    Hi,

    I know a guy who worked for Germansiher Lloyd ( GL) who were heavily involved in the composite approvals of that thing.

    I have sent him a link to that video and will ask him on Monday, it was he who first brought my attention to it having seen it on a Norwegian News Site.

    I am still keen to know if it were towed forwards or backwards, towing it backwards would have taken a lot of pressure off the front end and it how the Royal Navy saved a destroyer near Lord Howe a few years ago after she hit a reef.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Nottingham_(D91)
  7. wscott52

    wscott52 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2007
    Messages:
    298
    Location:
    SE Florida
  8. Kafue

    Kafue Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2006
    Messages:
    1,164
    Location:
    Gold Coast Australia

    Good one Far. What about the one where a sumo gets harpooned in a restauant? Can't find it.
    Got to have a laugh.
  9. StormChaser

    StormChaser New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2008
    Messages:
    4
    Location:
    Galesville, MD
    I very much disagree, to me, from the videos, it is abundantly clear that the Whaler is at fault. But I guess our opinions really dont matter...its in the hands of the courts.
  10. PropBet

    PropBet Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 21, 2007
    Messages:
    1,216
    Location:
    Is Everything!
    I'll probably get flamed for saying this, but I'll chime in with my $0.02 USD

    OK, Sea Shepard, Green Peace, Blue Ocean, etc. I appreciate the effort and support the cause. No wale hunting. I get it. Really. I do. So does the rest of the world. However the manner in which you choose to fight this issue is fruitless.

    Moreover, to the captain of the Ady Gil: You're an idiot. you're an idiot for putting your boat at risk, you life at risk, and more importantly, the crew at risk.

    Back to your normal programming.
  11. Kafue

    Kafue Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2006
    Messages:
    1,164
    Location:
    Gold Coast Australia
    Extremists

    Propbet,
    I agree that Sea Shepherd are extremists, forget Greenpeace, they are now full of "administrators" and "officials" making a career, much like the UN staff.
    IF Sea Shepherd and its supporters, and yes I am one of them in case you wonder, had a REAL forum to have a fair and meaningful debate and result then they would be onto something else that matters, but for decades Japan just does exactly what it wants. Fact is Japan is so powerful that "normal" diplomatic action is a like a fly annoying an elephant. The Japanese do NOT give a ****! Thier trade is so important to the worlds nations that they are "kowtowed" to and make us beggars! Australia's own Oppostition leader just announced whales are not worth arguing with when it comes to trade with Japan. What else would not be worth an argument...Tasmania! LOL!
    Almost 30 years ago I read a book by John Gordon Davis, a crewman on a whaler out of Cape Town, very funny and moving. Later he wrote Leviathan. At the time his thoughts and the early Greenpeace supporters were also extremists and nutcases.
  12. Garry Hartshorn

    Garry Hartshorn Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2005
    Messages:
    504
    Location:
    Directly above the center of the earth

    Amen !!!! my thoughts exactly
  13. ArcanisX

    ArcanisX Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2009
    Messages:
    313
    Location:
    Tel Aviv.
    I do not see how you plan to get flamed for putting things surprisingly straight.


    As an illustration, I recently chatted with people about their impressions with that Avatar flick. Actually quite surprised how many consider it OK, moral and ethical to betray your own biological species for a "righteous cause".
    So, I am all good with whales. But I value lives of men, like crews of both ships, just a small bit more. Shame on me, eh.
  14. wscott52

    wscott52 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 30, 2007
    Messages:
    298
    Location:
    SE Florida
    What neither video from the ships shows is the Ady Gil cutting across the whalers bow at cruising speed, probably around 20 knots. The whaler appropriately altered course to the right to pass behind the Ady Gil. At that point the captain of the Ady Gil cut the throttles to idle speed. The whaler on seeing the Ady Gil cut throttles swung left to again miss the Ady Gil. The Shonan Maru undoubtedly intented to pass very close to the Ady Gil and that was probably wrong. The captain of the Ady Gil on seeing a near miss throttled up to insure a collision. The whaler will bear some responsibility but the majority of the blame rests with the Ady Gil. The Ady Gil was a nimble 45 knot speed boat and there should be no way a 15 knot whaling ship can hit it if it doesn't want to be hit. This was also at the end of a day where the Ady Gil had been constantly harassing the Japanese fleet and repeatedly trying to release towed lines in front of the Japanese ships to foul their propellers. In my opinion Sea Shepherds are eco-terrorists and the Japanese have shown remarkable restraint in dealing with them. Disabling a ship in Antarctic waters could be considered attempted murder. You may not agree with the Japanese whaling, I don't, but it is arguably legal. What Sea Shepherds do is in no way legal or right.
  15. Kafue

    Kafue Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2006
    Messages:
    1,164
    Location:
    Gold Coast Australia
    And just like the people at the movie, stay in the "Audience" and DO NOTHING!
    What has a fantasy film got the heck to do with it? Keep in mind, this was a very small vessel which was purposely rammed by a SHIP and you give no credit to the guts of people standing up for a cause.
    My sincere apologiese to the US fighting men for even putting them in the same post I can't think of a better analogy at 4a.m), but you are like the French, waiting for the people with conviction (the US forces) to take action over what is CLEARLY WRONG!
  16. Kevin

    Kevin YF Moderator

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2004
    Messages:
    3,049
    Location:
    Montreal, Qc, Canada
    Guys, let's all just agree that killing whales is bad and leave the finger-pointing and accusations out of it.

    I don't want to have to close the thread and end the conversation if I don't have to.
  17. jspiezio

    jspiezio Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2010
    Messages:
    37
    Location:
    Changes

    Where the heck did that come from?
  18. Kafue

    Kafue Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 29, 2006
    Messages:
    1,164
    Location:
    Gold Coast Australia
    Agree with that. I am going to have a coffee, forget the whales for a while and enjoy my search for a new boat. BTW, I only joined this forum to soak up the knowledge and share the pleasure of boating, so to all on this thread, no offence, so long, see you on a more positive subject.....
  19. Henning

    Henning Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 22, 2009
    Messages:
    940
    Location:
    Ft Lauderdale FL
    So, exactly what are you doing to stop whaling? Or Australia for that matter? Seems to me nothing but whinging.
  20. geriksen

    geriksen Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2007
    Messages:
    175
    Location:
    San Juan Puerto Rico
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hsB5IqO-dw

    I have posted this video once already but if you look at it you can see that the visibility from the helm is not very good in the Ady Gil. Plust, the helm is on the starboard side. In the onboard video,

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfGM-LzGKjc

    the top side crew are busy "high fiving" each other and putting on a show for the camera. The whaler came up to them very fast on the port side and almost a bit aft. Is is possible that the helmsman didn't realize that the Japanese vessel was so close until it loomed large suddenly in his port side windows and in a sudden moment of disorientation throttled up in forward to "get out of there" not realizing he put the bow of the Ady Gil right in the path of the Japanese ship.

    Or maybe his teabag fell off the steering wheel, or some toast had just popped up from that toaster in the middle of the floor. That boat looked like some homeless man's car inside. You would think they could clean it up a bit before making a video.

    Or maybe he was getting his secret weapon wakeboard ready to "deploy"

    Also, if you google Ady Gil, you get an interesting piece about a very wealthy producer who pays to date younger women. Is he the patron?

    I'll bet they had some great parties. ;-)
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.