I want to see a Japanese destroyer head down there and end this. That’s what I want.
I suspect you mean that I’d be a great whaler.
I have a small boat, and though I recognize that in some cases I may have the right of way, a boat the size of the Japanese security ship has the “right of mass,” and I know what would happen if that large boat, hits my small boat.
I may be “right,” to stay my course (or lack of) but I’d be dead right. I prefer alive.
SS is a bunch of crybaby thugs, and while the whalers are doing things that I may not agree with, they (whalers) are technically “legal.”
Paul Watson should just do his fucking duty and sink the Nisshin Maru.
Just out of curiosity, how should the Japanese sailors respond to members of Sea Shepherd boarding their ships and attempting to make arrests?
They would draw their swords, take the spears down from the racks, rush together in a mob and shout ‘Fuck YOU daulfeen! Fuck YOU WHALE!’ as they attacked.
The Sea Shepard guys wouldn’t have a chance…but it would be a lot of fun to see.
-XT
I’ve been watching the whaling situation for a few years now. The legality of Japan’s whaling industry is a joke, just because they exploit a technicality of pathetic agreements under the fig-leaf of ‘research’ doesn’t make it moral or ethical. Not only that, but given the distinct lack of market demand for whale meat in their own country, it strikes me as absurd to continue whaling for the sake of national pride and ego.
I’ve also been watching the Sea Shepherd’s campaigns, and while I didn’t support them initially as I thought they were too extreme, I’m tired of my government and the international community sitting around doing fuck-all about the situation. After reading up on the Sea Shepherd’s history and now this most recent incident, I’ve decided to start donating to their cause. The Sea Shepherd gets results, they take direct action, they reduce the whaling and raise awareness.
<off to their website to donate>
shrug They seem like a bunch of clueless bozos with fluff for brains and no idea how to opperate their own ships, at least to me. But their show is certainly entertaining…a couple of episodes had me literally in tears. Extreme? Yeah…extremely incompetent and clueless.
So by all means…go donate to them. Would hate like hell to see their comedy of errors on the high seas show canceled. I can’t wait to see how they fuck up next season!
-XT
Well, last I read, donations are way up over this. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how this “fuck up” pans out in the long run. Personally, I think it’s a shame Japan is going to have to perform seppuku in shame over getting their ass kicked by some hippie whale-huggers. 
Time will tell.
Well the Sea Shepards are good at wasting donations of brain-dead, liberal, tree-hugging, hippies. That’s something positive I guess. 
stuff it
Yeah, I wish the Sea Shepherds were a bit more than feckless idiots. But of course they hire based on ideology not based on skill-set.
How much did the boat cost and how much up are donations? That’s the difference between unmitigated disaster and potential business model.
The Earthrace (it’s original name) cost about $2.5 million, paid by sponsors. Sea Shepherds bought it with a $1 million donation made by some Hollywood magnate. I have no idea how much they’re pulling in via donations, but they have 501(c)(3) tax exempt status so donations are tax deductible.
My reading of the whole mess is the Security ship was trying to do a near miss while trying to douse the lot of them on deck with the hose, and they got a lot nearer than they thought, ie instead of missing by 5m they missed by 2m. I wouldnt be surprised if the Ady lot often were under cover given where they are, so the chance for a hosing with them out in the open was possibly too tempting.
Overall my thinking is everyone got way too used to doing close maneuvering while playing silly buggers, and risk perception got lowered too far.
The Sea Shepherd to me looks fast but not particularly maneuverable for its size, particularly when going slow - to me it looks like it was trying to speed up so it could turn but it was too late. Conversely I wonder how easily the security ship could see where it was going with those stupid hoses in front
The Japanese expected them to move out of the way more easily, and the Sea Shepherd seems to have thought the Security ships were more able to control how close they came than was actually the case. Noone realised till too late that an actual collison was on the cards, and both efforts to avoid compounded things.
I dont think the Ady was going to avoid a hit even without speeding up, but it might have only lost a foot or been crumpled rather than losing the entire front part of the boat. Similarly the Security ship seems to be trying to turn to starboard thinking the Ady would squeeze past, but unfortunately instead made a direct hit with the bow certain instead.
Otara
Losing propulsion, and potentially steering, in the Antarctic is in fact potentially deadly. For the safety of the crew he would be justified in deadly force imo
Why would it be deadly? It’s a whaling fleet not a lone helpless whaling vessel. I assume these whalers have adequate fuel, food and long-johns to last quite a while whether they’re actively chasing whales or sitting around with their thumbs up their butt waiting to de-tangle their props. Destroying a small ship is not the same thing at all. As someone upthread mentioned, landing in the drink in Antarctic waters can kill you in mere minutes. Could the Japanese have saved them from the water that fast? Could the other ships? That’s attempted murder.
You clearly don’t understand. A ship with loss of control in bad seas is at serious risk, and it may not be possible to transfer crew.
I don’t care if they only dulled the paint on the boat. Anyone who boards a boat, throws chemicals on a boat, attempts to disable a boat or otherwise harass the people on the boat is deliberately provoking a response. The Japanese Navy should confront them as pirates, take them prisoner, and sink their ships.
Well, it’s a case of “he said, she said” and who you believe. As I understand it, the SS deploy ropes with colored buoys the Japanese can easily avoid. It’s a blockade, and the Japanese can avoid it, or go over it and risk fouling their props. In retaliation, the Japanese directly attempt to foul the SS’s props. The SS’s response is, “hey, that’s an attack. Bring it on bitches; we’re pirates!”
The thing is, you’re dealing with a hypothetical, and I’m judging based on what I see on video, with my own eyes. I’m reminded of the cop in DC who brandished his weapon in response to being pelted, or “attacked,” if you prefer, by snowballs. Now theoretically, the cop could have been startled by the snowballs, careened into a school bus, causing it to jackknife into a gas truck, and lots of death could have resulted. In reality, the court of public opinion came back with a verdict of “the cop was a total douche.”
Speaking of video, where’s the Japanese footage of the Ady Gil attacking them with prop-fouling devices? They were clearly filming everything, as the collision videos show, so where’s the evidence of the Ady Gil’s attack that warranted a response of attempted murder or at the very least, reckless endangerment?
“As I understand it, the SS deploy ropes with colored buoys the Japanese can easily avoid.”
I think any maritime authority would take a pretty dim view of that argument. Making large vessels avoid things that could foul thier props is an inherently dangerous activity.
Otara