Cars

Matte Black Earthrace Power Boat Hunts Those Who Hunt Whales

4:00AM November 9, 2009 | Jack Loftus

Last we heard from Earthrace, the super sleek 24m power boat that runs on its captain’s fat, it was circumnavigating the globe. Today, the ship has a new Batman paint job and a new mission: Hunting whalers.

Specifically Japanese whalers. The same Japanese whalers made famous by the camera-happy efforts of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. You know, the group whose anti-whaling, conservationist exploits on the high seas can be seen on a reality TV show near you, right now?

Now, the paint job and wild design aren’t just for aesthetics. Nay, they also turn this sleek trimaran into a radar-deflecting stealth boat. Presumably, this will allow the Earthrace to sidle up to unsuspecting whaling ships, where it will then “protest” peaceably.

The boat leaves Perth on December 7 on a three-month journey alongside the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s Steve Irwin to protest Japan’s industrial whaling program. Good luck, and be careful. Stealth or not, last I checked matte black wasn’t harpoon-proof. [LIFE via Boing Boing]

Comments

  • tycho

    November 9, 2009 at 9:28 AM

    I’m all for lawful protesting about whaling, but the sea-shepherd guys are pirates. Nothing makes me want to support their cause less than if they bang on about how it is ‘ok’ to ram other ships if that is what it takes to save whales – it’s dangerous logic which takes you to an extreme place. Let’s hope the earthrace doesn’t try to use the same tactics.

  • Mike Biggs

    November 9, 2009 at 10:19 AM

    @tycho….but ramming a grenade tipped harpoon through a near-equally intelligent animals head until they are extinct so they can eat their meat is alright? I say do what it takes. The whalers know full well there are little-to-no laws on the high seas, and they use it to make millions. Its a good thing the Sea Shepherd knows of the lack of laws too. I’m all for peaceful protest, and the preservation of humans lives and safety, but let the hunters be the hunted I say… until they get the point. We all know our governments are doing next to nothing.

  • Mike Biggs

    November 9, 2009 at 10:21 AM

    Conservation aside, thats an awesome looking boat! Hope to sea it dock on the East coast sometime.

  • Gumby1008

    November 9, 2009 at 3:38 PM

    which Perth? Scotland or Australia, i live in the Australia one, and that backdrop looks strangely unfamiliar, then again i did go to the other Perth and it didn’t look like that ether, but it wouldn’t take 3 months from Australia Perth, would it?

    • Kirsty

      November 10, 2009 at 1:29 PM

      If you were leaving for Antartica, would you leave from Scotland or Australia?

  • David Anderton

    November 9, 2009 at 10:13 PM

    yeh im from perth as well and that aint perth. hopefully it is here and we geeks can go see it

    • Elly Hart

      November 10, 2009 at 4:20 AM

      I checked the source site and it says that the boat is currently in Auckland “ahead of its deployment for Perth, and then the Southern Ocean”.

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