Comments on: Earthrace Completes Its Journey To The Dark Side

By: jforth

jforth — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:53:22 +0000

Damn dude are you psychic?

By: charles martel

charles martel — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 06:34:45 +0000

You talk about the whalers breaking laws. Are you just repeating what the anti-whalers say?

This post was copied from another source. See:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/users/profile/whalerider?action=comments

You are apparently guilty of doing what you accuse Ophelia of.

Your post is not scientific, nor has it been peer reviewed…

By: Sea Shepherd’s Terrorist-Ninja-Earthrace-Batmobile-Ship »GreenIsTheNewRed.com

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:11:59 +0000

[...] EcoRazzi: And so it begins: Earthrace, one of the fastest powerboats on the planet, has been given a full [...]

By: Rainbow Warrior

Rainbow Warrior — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:50:29 +0000

Stunning boat. But from what I’ve seen of the Sea Shepherd crew – flippin inflatables, smackin helicopters and pretty much struggling to keep it together – I hope it comes with a competent skipper.

And for the record – Kevlar will NOT survive a collision with an iceberg – or a Japanese ice-breaker class whaling ship.

By: Dave Head

Dave Head — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:46:01 +0000

You talk about SSCS breaking laws -what laws -can you tell us. Or are you just repeating what the Japs say?.
In fact Japan’s continued and expanded program of scientific whaling is inconsistent with its obligations under the Law of the Sea Convention, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling Convention, the Convention on the
Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), and the Convention on Biological Diversity to protect and preserve the marine environment, to protect rare and fragile ecosystems and endangered species, to prepare environmental impact assessments when changes to the marine environment are likely to be caused by its activities, and to refrain from
claiming resources under the guise of marine scientific research. This program is not legitimately “scientific” because it has not been peer-reviewed and does not have precise quantifiable goals. It is inconsistent with Japan’s obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity because reduces the sustainability of whale species and has
“adverse impacts on biological diversity.” It is unquestionably an abuse of right because it invokes Article VIII of the Whaling Convention in a manner that certainly was unanticipated by the framers of the Convention and has
been repeatedly condemned by the majority of the other contracting parties to the Convention.
Japan’s actions can be challenged by concerned states in the International Court of Justice or through the dispute resolution procedures of the Law of the SeaConvention and the conciliation procedures of the Convention on Biological
Diversity.
Plus a few other ‘legalities’ that Japan ignores and no Government has the ‘balls’ to enforce.

By: SEA KING

SEA KING — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:55:02 +0000

that is bad ass

By: Michael d'Estries

Michael d'Estries — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:04:51 +0000

It appears that their press release PDF needs updating.(http://assets.earthrace.net/RELEASES/All%20about%20Earthrace%20June%2009.pdf)

I pulled my information from this quote, but it now appears that they’re mistaken: “It all depends on the speed. At 25 knots (29 mph), Earthrace will travel 14,000 nautical miles (16,122 miles) which is half way around the world. But at that speed you have a very uncomfortable and grumpy crew”

They probably meant 6 knots — hence the grumpy crew sentence.

And you’re right on the kevlar/body armor naming issue — it’s just that the two are used synonymously that it’s sometimes easy to forget that they’re not one and the same.

By: ddpalmer

ddpalmer — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:41:07 +0000

I didn’t say they didn’t add Kevlar. I said they didn’t add body armor and that Kevlar was alraedy part of the original construction. Just because Kevlar is used in body armor doesn’t mean every use of Kevlar can or should be called body armor.

And as for speed and range. The Earthrace website says 2000 nm at 25 knots and with the additional weight that range will have dropped.

I am not trying to say that the boat isn’t impressive. But it is wrong to report it as something more than it is. If the info came from the Captain then it should have been checked, if it came from author then he needs to do better research.

By: Michael d'Estries

Michael d'Estries — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:44:06 +0000

ddpalmer,

Kevlar body armor was added — in addition to the composite in the hull. Here is a quote from the captain of the Earthrace: ““We’re adding between 8 layers and 4 layers of kevlar, depending on area, all over the underwaterline sections, as well as some areas above the waterline. Earthrace is pretty much all carbon, which is brittle, especially as it gets colder. The kevlar adds impact resistance. It does not make it iceproof, it just limits the damage when we do end up scraping some ice. Earthrace though is quite vulnerable down there, so we will need to be especially carfeul. Antarctica is very unforgiving.”

Pics of them adding the kevlar here: http://www.ecorazzi.com/2009/08/28/exclusive-the-earthrace-begins-a-sea-shepherd-transformation/

With regards to speed, Earthrace can travel 14,000 nautical miles on a full tank at an average speed of 25 knots. I seriously doubt they’ll have much concern going above that at times. (Granted, with the extra kevlar, the weight of the boat is sure to increase.)

Broadband radar appears to be a fairly new technology that I’m still looking into. That being said, it was the Captain who stated those words — so there’s obviously something there we’re missing.

By: ddpalmer

ddpalmer — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:56:28 +0000

I am interested in seeing how this boat will fair in the Antarctic, but bending the truth in the article is just bad form.

It has a top speed of 45 knots which is fast compared to a large boat, but many powerboats can easily hit 60 knots, so it definitely is not one of the fastest powerboats in the world. Also with its fuel consumption at those speeds I don’t expect it will spend much time going above 10-15 knots.

Kevlar body armor was not added. Kevlar is used in the construction of the hull and has always been part of the Earthrace hull. Calling it adding body armor is like saying my car has tank armor because it has steel in it’s construction.

And finally there is no such thing as undetectable broadband radar. For radar to work you have to be able to detect the return signal and if you can detect the return signal then anybody with the proper reciever can also detect your signal.