Merci Captain Jean Yves Terlain In late July 2012, a supporter from the German Ministry of Justice from Berlin called me in Frankfurt on a Friday afternoon to advise me that when I reported to the police station in Borheim the following Monday, I would be taken into custody and extradited to Japan. There was no other option. I had to leave Germany. I shaved my beard, dyed my hair and departed for the coast somewhere in Europe. In a small coastal village I boarded a French sailing boat skippered by the legendary French yacht master Jean Yves Terlain. It was early August 2012. The boat was the “Columbus” and it was a Sea Shepherd France educational vessel. Captain Terlain had covered up the Sea Shepherd markings. We headed down the English Channel and out into the North Atlantic. It was a long and very salty adventure. The “Columbus” is a small sailing boat and not built for comfort. The transit was rough, wet, cold and slow. We crossed the Atlantic and into the Pacific where I transferred to the “Brigitte Bardot”. In late November 2012 we arrived two hundred miles off American Samoa in the South Pacific where we were met by Captain Sid Chakavarty and the crew of the “Steve Irwin.” From there we set a course to New Zealand and down to the Southern Ocean and west to the Indian Ocean for Operation Zero Tolerance, the most successful Antarctic campaign of them all where the Japanese whalers took less than 10% of their kill quota. During that campaign Captain Terlain took command of the “Brigitte Bardot” until March 2013 when he transferred his command to French Captain Oona Layolle off the western side of Tasmania. I rejoined the “Brigitte Bardot” and stayed at sea until the “Brigitte Bardot” delivered me to Los Angeles in early November 2013. I was in exile at sea from early August 2012 until early November 2013 for a total of 14 months. An organized effort by Sea Shepherd Netherlands, Sea Shepherd France, Captain Terlain and the crew of the “Columbus,” the crew of the “Brigitte Bardot,” the crew of the “Steve Irwin” and some very wonderful people I cannot name kept me from being captured by the Japanese. Japan had me placed on the Interpol Red List for the “crime” of trespassing. No one has ever been put on that list for extradition for the offense of trespassing. They could not charge me with interfering with their illegal whaling activities and I had been very careful to not break any laws during the campaigns against their renegade whaling operations. Unfortunately a Sea Shepherd crew-member had been captured in January 2011 and charged with boarding the Japanese ship “Shonan Maru #2.” He was taken to Japan and held for trial on the charge of trespassing. He was given a suspended sentence in return for making an accusation that it was I who ordered him to board the Japanese ship. He lied and in doing so he gave the Japanese authorities the “evidence” they wanted to charge me with conspiracy to trespass despite the fact that I am on film in the television show Whale Wars advising the said crewmember to NOT board the Japanese vessel. Japan still seeks to capture me for this politically motivated minor charge and because of their political and economic power they managed to harness Interpol to serve their agenda and thus for conspiracy to trespass I was placed on a list meant for serial killers and war criminals. Since my return to the USA, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands has ruled that Japanese whaling activities in the Southern Ocean are illegal. Despite that verdict, Interpol continues to list me as wanted by Japan and Costa Rica. The Costa Rican request was made in partnership with Japan with the object of having me extradited to Costa Rica for stopping an illegal Costa Rican shark finning operation in Guatemalan waters that I did at the request of the Guatemalan government. The strategy there is to have me extradited to Costa Rica where the Costa Ricans would deliver me to the Japanese. It is now two years since the Germans detained me in Frankfurt. I am still free and one of the reasons that I am is because of Captain Jean Yves Terlain and his vessel “Columbus” Merci Captain Terlain Note: Captain Terlain single handedly sailed the 128 foot “Vendredi Treize” across the North Atlantic placing 2nd in the race originally sponsored by the UK-based Observer newspaper, and known as the Observer Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race, or OSTAR. Although 2nd, the winner was a multi hull. Captain Terlain however beat seven other multi-hulls with his time of 21 Days, 5 hours and 14 minutes. In 1988 with the CSTAR race, Captain Terlain had the fastest time with a monohull with his vessel the “UAP 1992” with the time of 17 days, 4 hours and 5 minutes. Captain Jean Yves Terlain is considered one of the most acclaimed and legendary yachting masters in the world and Sea Shepherd is proud to have him as a skipper. Captain Terlain and the “Columbus” will be heading to the Faeroe Islands in June to help protect the pilot whales from the savagery of the “Grind.”
Posted on: Thu, 22 May 2014 03:26:05 +0000
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