"Rather rough" is a technical seaman's term that describes today's sea conditions. It means the waves are averaging about two meters in height. The wind was at force six, also known as a "strong breeze," or 23 knots (about 25 mph, 40 kph).
Not the best boating weather. Probably not great whaling weather either. None the less, when we saw on the radar that one of the catchers (whale hunting ships) had sped up and was starting to manuver , we decided to send a boat out to see if the catcher was whaling, and interfere if necessary.
Within a few minutes the Hurricane was in the water. Jesse was driving, Vincent was crew - our photo and video guys were also on board with their cameras. When they reached the catcher they saw that the cover was off the harpoon and lookouts searching for whales. Jesse put the Hurricane out in front - keeping ahead of the catcher, and staying ready to get in the way if they found a whale.
Eventually, Jesse was forced to head the Hurricane back to the ship for fuel and a fresh crew.
Then it was my turn. I joined Wally (driver) and Mikey (crew) in the Hurricane with my video camera, and we chased after the catcher. Worried that the catcher would make a kill before we could get there, Wally pushed the Hurricane hard through the waves.
The Hurricane is 7.3 meters long, and we were making 20 knots. We would launch off the top of a wave, the front of the boat air-born, and come down with a bone jarring shock. Mikey and I were standing to either side of the steering console mainframe, which I griped with numb hands. At Mikey's helpful suggestion, I strapped myself to the pole. He looked pretty stable though, which I mentioned to him later. "Actually," Mikey replied, "last time I was in seas this rough I went whooop, right out of the boat."
At first glance it seemed we were insane, pushing the envelope this hard to save, at best, one whale. Then I thought about everyone else who'd put it on the line to get us this far. Now, with only two countries in the world - Japan and Norway - whaling commercially the end is in sight. From signing petitions to risking life and limb, too many other people have done their part for us not to do ours this close to the finish.
Still, there was so much freezing spray coming over the boat that I could, at times, hardly breathe, much less see. Somehow, though, Mikey and Wally were able to stay on course, and it only took us 30 minutes to reach the catcher.
Mikey driving:
They didn't look like they were hunting any more, but we stayed and kept an eye on them for an hour or so before heading back to the ship. We got some friendly waves from the whalers. Well, gestures anyway, and I prefer to interpret them as friendly. My guess is that they were just surprised to see the Greenpeace boat back under such rough conditions.
Was it bad weather or Greenpeace that kept them from whaling today? I don't really know, and don't so much care. We were on the job, despite the risk, and no whales were killed. That's good enough for me.
-- Andrew
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