Tools of the Trade

One of the assets of the Arctic Sunrise is her compliment of RIB’s. The rigid inflatable boats are probably most associated with our campaign to save the world’s whales. Images of small Greenpeace inflatable boats putting themselves between the whaling vessels and the whales, using their bodies and boats to protect the whales.

But there are many other uses for the RIBs, from work tracking deep sea bottom trawlers to rapid beach patrols; the little boats are fast, maneuverable, and really really fun. The sunrise has a compliment of four RIBs, including one jet-powered boat. Small cranes allow the ship to quickly lower the boats into the water for speedy deployment.

Since the ship left Boston Harbor on Monday morning, a team of activists have been training in the use of the RIBs at sea. Driving these little boats takes real skill, particularly when the seas are heavy.

Over the course of our open boats this weekend, because the waters off of Cape Cod are so shallow, the ship will anchor offshore and we will run visitors out to the ship in the small RIBs for tours. I think it will help attract visitors to the ship because in addition to the tour of the Sunrise, our visitors will get a speedy ride in the RIBs. Our schedule for the weekend is:

Friday – Provincetown
Saturday – Hyannis
Sunday – Nantucket
Monday – Woods Hole

There may also be some of other exciting news to report involving the RIBs later in the weekend - you never know … so stay tuned.