International Marine Mammal Project
Although
I missed the record by about a day, I did make it to Japan on this, my
third attempt to break the solo sailing record of 34 days, six hours
from San Francisco to Tokyo, arriving in Misake, Japan on June 4, 2001
aboard my 60-foot ocean racer Thursday’s Child.
The first sail in 1997 ended about 300 miles from Tokyo with the
capsize of my trimaran Naiía. The second attempt in 2000 ended in
Hawai’i with a broken rudder.
All three sails were undertaken to raise awareness in Japan of the
brutal “drive fishery” that continues to kill 20,000 cetaceans
annually. Many of the surviving drive-fishery dolphins are sold into
captivity to supply the growing number of “swim with dolphins” programs
around the world.
While in Japan, I met with the director of the new killer whale
facility at the Nagoya Port Aquarium to make the case against captivity
of orcas. Unfortunately, the director stated clearly that the aquarium
intends to buy orcas and open a commercial whale show. Nanami Kurasawa
of Dolphin Whale Action Network in Tokyo is leading a gallant fight to
prevent the opening of the Port Authority’s new “whale jail.”
My longtime sailing buddy, Scott Shaffer, joined me in Japan for a
double-handed return sail to Victoria, Canada. The 25-day crossing
followed the shorter Great Circle route just south of the Aleutian
Islands. We sailed on to Orca Lab, Paul Spong’s whale research station
at Vancouver Island in British Colombia.
We dedicated the return sail to the campaign to free Corky, a
female orca who was captured in 1969 when she was four years old. We
are asking that Corky be retired from Sea World San Diego and reunited
with her family pod in the waters off British Columbia.
Volunteers from Orca Lab joined the Thursday’s Child
crew for a “Fate of the Orcas/Free Corky and Lolita” tour of British
Columbia ports. The tour ended in Victoria with a parade of 15
whale-watch boats led by Thursday’s Child, all flying parts of the “Free Corky” banner made by children from around the world. The tour featured open houses on board Thursday’s Child,
TV interviews and the distribution of educational materials from Earth
Island’s new Orca Restoration Campaign, ORCA (see accompanying story).
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