I saw this boat when it made its stop in Portland on a pre-record-attempt publicity tour. I actually got to board the boat and met the captain, Pete Bethune, a real stand-up guy. It is really sad to see it wrecked, but I imagine it is reparable.
I attached some photos (poor quality) that I took of the boat. It really is a beautiful piece of engineering, from the stern it reminds me of the Sydney Opera House in some way. The carbon- fiber head is completely non-functional, just there to meet (fake) port-of-call regulations - on a race boat a functional flush toilet is just too heavy.
In the last photo Pete Bethune is on the left, the first mate is on the right, and yours truly is in the middle.
The accident (?) sounds questionable at best. Normally a larger ship does have the right-of-way at sea. However, if the whaling ship actually changed course to ram "The Boat Formally Known as Earthrace", then this was a serious crime...
As far as the Sea Shepherds in general: I like whales, but I don't like the show. The captain seems like a real jack***, and not all that bright. Their tactics (attempts to prop-foul, throwing "stink-bombs", et cetera) seem to border on piracy at times. Putting themselves between the whales and the whalers is just about the only legal thing they do. Yet they film the whole thing and broadcast it to the world in HD...
The fact of the matter is they have helped hasten the end of industrial whaling, by drawing attention (and bad P.R. for the country) to the Japanese whaling operations. So, in my opinion, keep it up! The Japanese whalers will find other jobs, somehow I think whaling is a very tiny part of the Japanese economy in general.
