Circumnavigation Record Boat Smashed

Originally posted by JimC Originally posted by Flick-Flock Surely nothing gives the Japanese boat the right to purposefully ram the sea shepherd boat? The SS people shone a high power laser in the eyes of the helmsman who they'd deliberately set their boat on a collision course with... its not impossible that the bloke couldn't see anything at all. Remember someone got 4 months in gaol for doing exactly that to a Police Chopper pilot not very long ago. In any case the Sea Shepherd boat was going forward and accelerated before impact. Its hard to believe they intended to bring that boat back. I'm not going to say the whalers are good guys, but the Shepherd people are definitely far worse...

The 2nd video (the one from the other sea shepard boat) shows the Japanese boat making a definite turn towards the Ady Gil. Whether this was because the helm was blind is debatable. But if he wasnt blind and he did it on purpose then he should be the one in jail, its not a game of dodgems.

All this said, I definitly dont support the sea shepherds peoples actions, getting that close and trying to blind the helm is stupid. And trying to tangle the whaling boats prop is childish, its never going to stop the whaling boats going to sea.
But as i said before, none of this gives anyone a right to ram them.

Sadly the only looser is the boat, sea shepherd get their publicity, the whalers get one of the sea shepherd boats off their back.

Originally posted by Neptune Originally posted by Flick-Flock And before people say "They put their own lives in danger by being there", cyclists put their own lives in danger by riding on the road with no helmet, but you cant run them over just because they cut you up   Well thats just a stupid thing to say.  Would you run into a car or a motorbike because they cut you up!

Maybe it was a bad analogy, i couldnt think of anything better at the time. The point I was trying to make was, it might be stupid of the sea shepherd guys to get into that situation, but thats never an excuse to ram them, no matter how annoying they are.

Originally posted by Flick-Flock Surely nothing gives the Japanese boat the right to purposefully ram the sea shepherd boat?

The SS people shone a high power laser in the eyes of the helmsman who they'd deliberately set their boat on a collision course with... its not impossible that the bloke couldn't see anything at all. Remember someone got 4 months in gaol for doing exactly that to a Police Chopper pilot not very long ago. In any case the Sea Shepherd boat was going forward and accelerated before impact. Its hard to believe they intended to bring that boat back.

I'm not going to say the whalers are good guys, but the Shepherd people are definitely far worse...


Edited by JimC

Surely nothing gives the Japanese boat the right to purposefully ram the sea shepherd boat? Just as nothing gives the sea shepherd boat the right to ensnare the props of the whaling boats, or you dont have the right to ram that port tack boat because you are on starboard.

The only difference with all those cases is one seriously endangers peoples lives....

And before people say "They put their own lives in danger by being there", cyclists put their own lives in danger by riding on the road with no helmet, but you cant run them over just because they cut you up

I'm no tree hugging, eco maniac, vegitarian but killing whales or any animal for no reason apart from financial gain is just wrong and I fully support anyone trying to stop them. Although these guys do seem to have a slight ego problem with all the matt black paint & scull logos.

Everyone sees this things from their own viewpoint. I see a bunch of eco-fascists who were deliberately creating a dangerous situation in complete breach of colregs for publicity and ego masssage and have succeeded.

This image is quite interesting...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/6 940724/Sea-Shepherd-anti-whaling-boat-Ady-Gil-cut-in-half-by -Japanese-ship-Shonan-Maru-2-in-Antarctic-waters.html?image= 7

Edited by JimC