Paul Watson's new toy!

[Ninong]

Wow! Check this thing out!

This is crazy wild! Capable of up to 50 knots and able to submarine as deep as 23 feet! This is the new bullet-proof boat that will be joining the Sea Shepherd's Steve Irwin when they harass the Japanese whaling fleet beginning next month as documented in "Whale Wars" on Animal Planet.

[Ninong]

Japanese Whaling Ship Collides With Trimaran

Paul Watson's new toy was chopped in two in collision with Japanese whaling vessel. More than eight feet of the bow of the Ady Gil was cut off.

YouTube video clip of the actual collision.

P.S. -- The mainstream media has finally started reporting on this story: here.

[zhenya]

If he wants to go against a larger ship like this whaling ship he needs couple of torpedo tubes, not stinky bombs.

[Flyboy450r]

I guess Ill be the guy to say it. Didnt he just crash that thing?? I say the video but I dont know much else about what happened. It was really nice..

[Ninong]

It's unlikely that Paul Watson was on the Ady Gil. As captain, he would have remained on the Bob Barker, their latest ship named for the retired Price Is Right host who donated $5 million to their cause. I don't think their other ship, the Steve Irwin, was with them this time.

What probably happened is that they were trying to lay down a snag line in front of the bow of the Japanese whaling ship and they misjudged speed and distance. The snag line has to be passed in front of the bow so that the ship will pass over it and the line will entangle the props. The snag line has floats at either end to hold it up. The crew on the Ady Gil would have dropped one end of the snag line as they approached the starboard side of the Japanese whaling ship and then they would have let it out as they sped alongside the whaling ship, racing to pass in front of it so that they could let out the other end of the snag line on the port side. The closer they pass in front of the bow, the better their chances of success. I guess they attempted to pass too close.

The Japanese will file diplomatic protests with New Zealand (Watson's ships sail under New Zealand flags) and they will demand that the Australian government arrest the crew when they return to port. Their home port is Hobart, Australia. This happens every year. Every year the Japanese demand that the crew be arrested and every year the Australian police are waiting for the Steve Irwin to return to port in Hobart so that they can take them in for questioning. Then four or five hours later, they release the crew and announce that they are continuing their investigation. Later they will say that there is insufficient evidence of any criminal acts.

The Japanese news media will cover all of this as a major crime on the part of the Sea Shepherds (Paul Watson's organization) and American, Australian and European media will cover it as way-to-go Paul. Save the whales and all that good stuff.

[DevonM]

I record this entertaining show with my DVR and watch all of the episodes.

I have to say, watching Whale Wars is like watching a train wreck. Every episode the Whale Wars crew seems the mess it up. I tune in to see how things are going to go wrong as I know they won't actually accomplish anything.

Hopefully this season they purchased their own LRAD instead of pretending with old PrimeStar satellite dishes.

It also doesn't surprise me at all they wrecked their new bad a$$ boat. I wonder what's in store for the Bob Barker... Please tell me the Bob Barker at least has an ice rated hull for the crews safety because you know Captain Paul is going to go off-roading!

[Ninong]

I believe the Bob Barker is a former whaling vessel.

[Ninong]

I googled Bob Barker and came up with this blog post:

Bob Barker Donates $5,000,000 to Sea Shepherd for Ocean Conservation

Another whaling ship arrived in the Southern Ocean today, unexpected and right on time: the Bob Barker.

The 1,200-ton Norwegian built Antarctic harpoon vessel caught up with the
Japanese whaling fleet at 0300 Hours on Wednesday, January 6th, in the area of
Commonwealth Bay off the Adelie Coast at 143 Degrees 17 Minutes East and 66
Degrees 43 Minutes South.

Thanks to a $5,000,000 contribution from American television personality and
icon Bob Barker, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was able to quietly
purchase and refit the former Norwegian whaler in Africa. The ice strengthened
fast chaser boat quietly departed from Mauritius on December 18th to join up
with the Sea Shepherd ships Steve Irwin and Ady Gil in the Southern Ocean.
Barker has also funded the cost of a helicopter that will accompany the
society¹s ships. The aircraft is named The Nancy Burnet after the president of
United Activists for Animal Rights, an organization Barker also supports. This new helicopter will participate in future campaigns.

'I¹m delighted to be able to help the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in its
mission to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the
world¹s oceans,' said Barker.

'There is lot of talk about preserving our
ecosystems and species, but this is one organization that puts these words
into action.'

For the first time ever, Sea Shepherd has three ships on the Japanese fleet.

Thanks to the generous support of Bob Barker, the Sea Shepherd Conservation
Society has been given the means to seriously impact the profits of the
whaling industry this season.

'We intend to bankrupt the whalers' said Captain Paul Watson.

The Bob Barker is currently in pursuit of the whaling fleet.

[DevonM]

Looks like a nice ship but where's the harpoon? The season finale episode would pull huge ratings if they shot the whaling vessel with a harpoon! I'm sure it's gone through Paul's mind, lol. Well, it should be another interesting season. Thanks for the info.

[Ninong]

I have watched five or six of their episodes. They're all very predictable and usually boring as hell but you just can't turn them off. You have to keep watching to see what happens next, if anything.

[metalhead]

Looks like a nice ship but where's the harpoon? The season finale episode would pull huge ratings if they shot the whaling vessel with a harpoon! I'm sure it's gone through Paul's mind, lol. Well, it should be another interesting season. Thanks for the info.

Speaking of harpoons... I think they'd be better off with a few of these!!!