(January 14-18, 2008) The Southern Ocean has been busy this winter, what with Open 60’s and maxi multihulls participating in races and record attempts. We have also learned that there are battles of a different sort taking place there as well between the activist group Greenpeace and the Japanese whaling fleet. There is an area of the Southern Ocean that has been designated as a whale sanctuary to help whale populations recover after the devastating commercial whaling of the last century. However, it is in this same area where Japanese whalers have failed to observe this recognition, and so following a 10-day search in Antarctic waters, the Greenpeace ship Esperanza finally was able to locate and confront the fleet and immediately engaged in a high speed chase over hundreds of miles through fog and increasingly rough seas. This week’s video provides a report on the action (additional details here).
