MY Ady Gil
MY Ady Gil was a, wave-piercing trimaran originally created as part of a project to break the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a powerboat. Powered by biodiesel fuel, the vessel was also capable of running on regular diesel fuel. It used other eco-friendly materials such as vegetable oil lubricants, hemp composites, and non-toxic anti-fouling, and had features such as bilge-water filters.
The first attempt at the global circumnavigation record in 2007 was ill-fated. The boat encountered mechanical problems on several occasions and collided with a Guatemalan fishing boat, killing one of the other boat's crew. While the crew of the Earthrace was later absolved of any responsibility, the delay forced the restart of the record attempt, while more mechanical issues later aborted it. In 2008, the second journey proved successful—though again, numerous technical problems had to be overcome before the record was achieved, with the vessel finally making the return to Sagunto, Spain after just under 61 days on 27 June 2008.
In late 2009, it was announced that the boat, now repainted black and named Ady Gil, would be participating in anti-whaling operations under the lead of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. During operations in the Southern Ocean, the vessel and the Japanese whaling support vessel collided on 6 January 2010, resulting in loss of the Ady Gil's bow and injuring one crew member. Each side blamed the other for causing the collision, and government agencies began an investigation into the incident. The crew of the Ady Gil were removed from the damaged vessel and the salvage operation was abandoned, with the vessel sinking the next day.
Design
The vessel was designed by LOMOcean Marine and built by Calibre Boats in Auckland, New Zealand. The wave-piercing trimaran design allowed for improved speed and stability. The boat was fully submersible, able to cut through waves and go underwater. The hull was composed of a composite carbon fibre and kevlar with a non-toxic anti-fouling paint.The vessel was powered by two 540 horsepower Cummins Mercruiser engines that ran on an animal fat and vegetable oil mix biodiesel. It could be run on diesel, biodiesel or blends. To cool and provide fresh air to the engines, intakes were located on two dramatic fins. The Ady Gil's twin propellers were mounted under the main hull, while the rudders were mounted in the pontoons. This design provided good turning at speed, but limited maneuverability at speeds below 12 knots. Despite its design as an "eco-boat", Sir David MacKay calculated that it had significantly greater energy consumption per passenger-kilometre than a jet-ski or the QE2.
The $2.5 million cost was mostly funded by sponsors, and the only luxury item aboard was the $10,000 toilet. When asked, "Regrets about the cost of it all?" skipper Pete Bethune replied, "No... You know, I do have the coolest boat in the world."
Record attempts
Earthrace was intended to showcase environmentally friendly technologies. It broke the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a motorised boat. It set the record in 60 days 23 hours and 49 minutes. This beat the record of 74 days, 20 hours, 58 minutes set by the Cable and Wireless Adventurer, in 1998, by 13 days 21 hours and 9 minutes. It is unclear if the circumnavigation was faster than the disputed time set by the US Navy's USS Triton nuclear-powered submarine during Operation Sandblast.The time established by Earthrace did not supersede the overall record set by the 103-ft sailing trimaran Groupama 3 skipped by Franck Cammas with 48d 7h 44' 52" or the latest 2012 record set by Banque Populaire V, a 131-ft trimaran skipped by Loïck Peyron, with 45d 13h 42' 53".
2007
The attempt originally departed from Barbados on 10 March 2007 but encountered significant delays including problems with the propellers and other mechanical issues.A problem with an engine off Palau caused an 8-day delay because of the remoteness. On the night of 19 March 2007, while around offshore from Guatemala, Earthrace collided with a local fishing boat. No Earthrace crew were hurt, but one of the three crew members from the fishing boat was never found. The crew was absolved of any responsibility after a 10-day investigation during which they were held in custody. The delays prevented Earthrace from completing the circumnavigation in record time, but because Earthrace took an official start time when leaving San Diego, the team decided to "restart" with this new start/finish line. They departed San Diego on 7 April 2007 and needed to return by 21 June to break the record. However, the attempt was abandoned on 31 May 2007 after a crack was discovered in the hull shortly after leaving Málaga, Spain.
The biofuel came from a wide range of suppliers and was derived from various cash crops. Bethune reluctantly had to fall back on conventional diesel once due to a lack of availability.
2008
After a refit at the Vulkan Shipyard at the Port of Sagunto, a second attempt on the record began at 14:35 on 27 April 2008. On board were Rob Drewett, Adam Carlson, Mark Russel and Bethune. The route for the second world record attempt and estimated time for each leg was as follows:- Sagunto – Azores: 3 days
- Azores – Puerto Rico: 3 days
- Puerto Rico – Panama: 3 days
- Panama – Manzanillo : 3 days
- Manzanillo – San Diego: 3 days.
- San Diego – Hawaii: 5 days
- Hawaii – Majuro : 5 days
- Majuro – Koror : 5 days
- Koror – Singapore: 5 days
- Singapore – Kochi : 5 days
- Kochi – Salalah : 4 days
- Salalah – Suez Canal : 4 days
- Suez Canal – Sagunto: 4 days
The next two legs went without any major problems and the crew managed to bypass a big backlog of ships in the Panama Canal. On day 22 about halfway to Hawaii, a severe vibration caused them to stop and after Bethune went under the boat in the dark with a torch to investigate, he discovered that some nylon netting was entangled in one prop and had to be removed.
Shortly after leaving Palau on day 34, Earthrace struck submerged debris which sheared two blades off the port propeller and bent the drive shaft. This necessitated a return to Palau in order to assess the damage and remove the prop. The boat then continued to Singapore on one engine, while plans were set in motion to manufacture a new drive shaft and obtain another propeller. Once in Singapore, Earthrace was hoisted from the water in a sling and repairs were effected on the dockside in record time.
On day 48 the crew were suffering from heat and high humidity and were all affected by heat rash. At this time they had also encountered monsoon weather and their speed was much reduced due to mountainous waves. The heavy seas continued all the way to Oman and beyond before entering the Red Sea. During this stretch the boat's transponder was damaged and the marine tracker stopped working. On day 56, en route to Port Suez, the lift pump malfunctioned, limiting their speed to 16 knots. This required three hours worth of maintenance to change it.
On Friday, 27 June 2008, Earthrace set a new world record for powered circumnavigation of the globe, when it crossed the finish line at 14:24 CET at Sagunto, Spain.
Cooperation with Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Participation in 'Waltzing Matilda'
It was announced that the Earthrace would accompany Sea Shepherd in its 2009–10 operations against Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Bethune said that an agreement was reached with Sea Shepherd for the boat to adopt a support role. Sea Shepherd noted that the vessel had been the only one in the fleet fast enough to keep up with all vessels of the Japanese whaling fleet.On 17 October 2009, the Earthrace was presented to the media with a new black paint job, and it was renamed Ady Gil, after the name of a major sponsor. The new paint job and futuristic appearance of the boat itself often evoked comparisons to Batman vehicles and stealth craft in the media.
4–8 layers of Kevlar were added to protect the hull against ice with the thickness depending on the location, with all areas under the waterline getting the extra laminations of kevlar as well as some areas above the waterline. To reduce its radar profile for the Japanese fleet, the ship was painted with a paint intended to scatter radar signals and a broadband radar which has near-zero radar emissions. Despite being referred to as a stealth craft, the Ady Gil lacks the angles and curvature of form designed to deflect radar away from the emitter rather than back to them. Other electronics upgrades included FLIR cameras, Iridium satellite communications as well as an array of speakers which were intended for communication purposes. Bethune said that he intended to play songs like Tangaroa from New Zealand musician Tiki Taane to the whalers, a "growling big sort of a song about the God of the Sea who looks after us".
Sea Shepherd crew said before the journey that Ady Gil would not be used as a confrontational vessel like the Steve Irwin. However, Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson, President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, later stated in October 2009 that with a top speed of 50 knots, the vessel would be used to intercept harpoon ships and physically block them from harpooning whales, allowing Sea Shepherd to "mount the most ambitious and aggressive effort to date to obstruct the slaughter of the whales in the Southern Ocean."