Report: Skippers to blame in whale protest sinking

[cory777]

Source: Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Investigators looking into a collision between a Japanese whaler and a high-tech protest boat on the high seas off Antarctica earlier this year said Thursday that the captains of both vessels were to blame.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society had accused the Japanese ship of deliberately ramming its futuristic, rocket-shaped boat, the Ady Gil, on Jan. 6, slicing the bow off the speed boat and eventually causing it to sink. The whalers denied it, saying the Ady Gil's captain deliberately put his vessel in their ship's path.

The clash was the most serious in the several years that Sea Shepherd has sent vessels into far southern waters to try to harass the Japanese fleet into ending its annual whale cull.

Government safety agency Maritime New Zealand said in a report released Thursday that the captains of both the Ady Gil and the whaler, the Shonan Maru No. 2, "were responsible for either contributing to, or failing to respond to the 'close quarters' situation that led to the collision."

Read more: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/101117/world/as_antarctica_whaling

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[Xipe Totec]

1. It's his fault too - He didn't jump out of the way when I tried to run him over! nt

[slackmaster]

2. Yes, that is exactly right!

Every ship's master is responsible for safe navigation at all times. The collision resulted from a juvenile game of "chicken", which takes two parties to play. If another vessel is being piloted in an unsafe manner and violating your right-of-way, you are still responsible for doing everything possible to avoid colliding with it. That's how I was taught, and how everyone who gets proper training in navigation is taught. Any hazardous "close quarters situation" between two vessels calls for BOTH vessels to take evasive action. You don't intentionally interfere with navigation of another vessel (unless you are in a yacht race, but even then there are rules). When a vessel gets in your way for any reason, you are required to actively work to avoid hitting it.

Either vessel could have avoided the collision. Unfortunately for the Ady Gil, the "Gross Tonnage Rule" (equivalent of the Lug Nut Rule for land vehicles) decides who wins when a game of chicken goes badly.

In before the throng of people who don't know what they're talking about whining "But the videos clearly show X, Y, and Z!" The bottom line is both skippers fucked up.

[Kolesar]

3. Watson had filled the bow of his ship with concrete and rammed a whaler

He had put razor wire on the foredeck so that if they got stuck, the whalers could not board his ship.

THAT will speak to them!

Watson used to get a lot of coverage in Outside Magazine.