MY Ady Gil (Earth race): Is this the Weirdest Yacht Ever?

Previously referred to as the Earthrace, MY Ady Gil is a triple hulled yacht (trimaran) which surpasses the conventional style of yacht design. The vessel was built in the year 2005 mainly for the purpose of setting a new record in compassing the world. But while it did establish a new record, the amazing yacht failed substantially to sustain its continuance as a vessel.

Earth  Boat Details

Built in New Zealand in the shipbuilding yard of Calibre Boats, the designing of the trimaran was carried out by the company LOMOcean Design. The main priority of the designers was to ensure that the yacht offered superiority in speed without affecting its constancy in water. As per specifications, the vessel offered a speed of about 32 knots with a length of 78 feet and a beam of 23 feet.

Another very important feature of the boat was that, along with being a triple-hulled yacht, it also doubled as a sub. The weird boat was capable of functioning at a depth of seven feet under the surface of the water – without any problems to the aspect of speed.

The Earthrace was designed to function on both diesels as well bio-diesel. Bio-diesel is refers to the combining of oils derived from vegetables. The equipping of such a technological aspect enabled the vessel to achieve such high rates of speed. In entirety, the trimaran was powered by two engines, generating power of 540 horsepower each to manoeuvre on water.

Circumnavigation

2007

The vessel was officially put into operation in the year 2007. But constant technical snags prevented the vessel from taking on the challenge of creating a new record for the world’s circumnavigation. Finally when these technical crises seemed to have been solved, another crisis emerged for the vessel. The Earth boat collided with a fishing vessel near the coast of the Latin American country of Guatemala.

Following this mishap, wherein one member of the crew was speculated to be dead – the person’s body was never to be found again – the boat was detained. This detainment further prevented the boat from achieving its purpose.

Following these skirmishes, the boat once again made an attempt in the same year to re-start its circumnavigation. New date and time lines were announced but the trip was aborted because of a leakage in one of the vessel’s triple hulls.

2008

The vessel recompensed by making a successful circumnavigation in the year 2008 in spite of the debacle that it suffered during its intended maiden voyage in 2007. But while the boat’s trip was successful, it was not without problems. Like in its previous year, the vessel suffered technical problems which led to delay in the vessel’s completion of its circumnavigation voyage. In spite of all the odds, in the end, the Earthrace did succeed in its mission setting a new record of 60 days, 23 hours and 49 minutes.

Post-Circumnavigation

The amazing yacht after its circumnavigation joined hands with the Sea Shepherd Organisation in the year 2009. The core purpose of such a mergence was to protest against the profession of whaling in Japan. During this time period, the vessel underwent a lot of changes with respect to furnishing and was consequentially re-christened as the MY Ady Gil.

The Ady Gil entrusted with the new role of aggressively protesting against the whalers’ vessel jarred against the Japanese protection ship, the Shonan Maru 2 in the year 2010. And while immediate proactive measures were employed to salvage the vessel, the process only hindered the stability of the vessel. For this reason, the vessel was decided to be purposefully sunk so that it wouldn’t be additionally hampering.

Present and Conclusion

The cost of the weird boat was enormous and it truly was a novelty factor at the time of its existence.

Just recently, there had been reports circulating that the Sea Shepherd Organisation was planning to launch an Ady Gil 2 and thereby commemorate the original vessel’s participation in their struggle to counteract degradation of the marine environment. Though, ultimately these reports turned out to be untrue, it is a well-known fact that the loss that the yacht encountered was staggering – about US$ 1.5 million.

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