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Boat of the Week: Meet the Record-Breaking 109-Foot Trimaran That Circled the Globe in 74 Days

After setting a world record, the vessel had a career hunting illegal whaling ships and other ocean poachers. now she's on the market., howard walker, howard walker's most recent stories.

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She’s fast. So fast that back in 1998 she scorched around the globe in less than 80 days, setting a new Guinness World Record with a time of 74 days, 20 hours and 58 minutes.

She’s got the range, too. Over 4,000 miles on a single tank. New York to London with fuel to spare. A range that, over the years, has helped her circumnavigate the world no fewer than six times.

And she’s helped change the world. As part of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) fleet since 2010, this rugged 109-foot trimaran has locked horns with Japanese whaling ships in the Antarctic, Chinese squid boats off the Galapagos, and tackled Bluefin poachers in the Mediterranean.

The 109-footer was designed to set a circumnavigation record, which she did in 1998, circling the world in less than 75 days.  Nigel Irens

Now, the legendary Brigitte Bardot , with a for-sale sign in her wheelhouse window, is ready and raring for her next adventure. “Vessels don’t come more unique than this,” Joaquin Genrich, the listing broker with Fraser Yachts , told Robb Report . “It could take a family completely off the grid. Throw off the lines and you could get from Puerto Vallarta, where she is right now, to Tahiti on one tank.”

Designed by British multihull guru Nigel Irens and originally named Cable & Wireless Adventurer , this needle-nosed rocket ship was built in 1997 by British yard Vosper Thornycroft for the sole purpose of circling the world in less than 80 days. Mission accomplished, she was renamed Ocean 7 Adventurer , relocated to Cape Town, South Africa, and started a new career as a charter vessel.

In December 2007, she hit the headlines when she charged into the Southern Ocean to perform a daring rescue of the demasted racing yacht  Delta Dore. After locating the yacht, she towed it 960 miles back to Cape Town. Three years later, she was bought by Sea Shepherd, renamed Gojira —that’s Japanese for Godzilla—and sent off to track down illegal Japanese whaling factory ships in the Antarctic. In locating the Nisshin Maru whaler in the icy Ross Sea, Gojira set a record for traveling farther south than any other multihull in history.

Sea Shepherd bought her in 2010 and used her to hunt illegal poaching vessels, including Japanese whale-factory ships and Chinese squid boats in the Galapagos.  Nigel Irens

When the Japanese owners of the Godzilla movie franchise threatened legal action for unauthorized use of the trademark, SSCS changed the vessel’s name to Brigitte Bardot, in honor of the French model and actor and her long-standing support of Sea Shepherd.

Since then, the trimaran has traveled to all four corners of the world; Australia, New Zealand, the Faroe Islands, the Mediterranean, Caribbean and even Key West, where she helped protect turtles from poachers. With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the boat was relocated from the Galápagos Islands, where she was on patrol, to Marina Riviera Nayarit, in La Cruz outside Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. A few weeks ago, the decision was taken to sell.

“These days Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is working more with governments and requiring larger vessels that can accommodate military personnel. Sadly, she’s become too small for our needs,” says Octavia Carranza, who captained Brigitte Bardot on missions to Peru in 2018.

The vessel was named Gojira—Japanese for “Godzilla”—but when the movie’s producers threatened legal action, she became ‘Brigitte Bardot,’ who is a big supporter of Sea Shepherd.  Fraser Yachts

“We’ll definitely be sorry to see her go. She’s a remarkable vessel. Extremely fast, cruising easily at 22 to 25 knots. What I always found amazing was sitting on the bridge and watching her slice through the water like a knife,” Captain Carranza told Robb Report .

Prospective buyers should remember that this is not some pristine luxury motoryacht. Far from it. Since her first day on the water, she’s been driven hard and put away wet. Her interior is no-frills-basic at best. Two years ago, she was expensively re-powered with two new 500-horsepower Cummins QSC 8.3-liter turbo diesels, replacing the previous 350-horse versions. Top speed is now close to 30 knots.

Genrich says the boat’s comparatively low $1.499 million asking price leaves plenty of room for a comprehensive refit. He is also quick to point out that Sea Shepherd is a “highly motivated” seller.

Repowered recently, the yacht has a new top speed of 30 knots. She has circled the globe six times in her 32-year history.  Fraser Yachts

Who’s going to buy her? Genrich reckons it might be someone looking to head out on another world-circling adventure. Or someone eager to own a piece of history. Or someone who just wants to own a really cool boat.

“One thing’s certain, Brigitte Bardot will take you anywhere you want,” he says.

To find out more about the work of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, go to http://www.seashepherd.org .  

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MV Brigitte Bardot

• Edit source

The MV Brigitte Bardot .

• 1.1 Operation No Compromise
• 1.2 Operation Ferocious Isles
• 1.3 Operation Divine Wind
• 1.4 Operation Zero Tolerance
• 1.5 Operation Sleppið Grindini
• 1.6 Drydock
• 1.7 Operation Mare Nostrum I,II, and III, Operation Siracusa, and Operation Bluefin III
• 1.8 Operation Jairo
• 1.9 Decommissioning

History [ ]

Operation no compromise [ ].

The vessel as the Gojira

Originally known as the Cable and Wireless Adventurer , the ship set a world circumnavigation record of 80 days in 1998, later beaten by the Ady Gil . The vessel went through many owners and names before being acquired by Sea Shepherd and named Gojira , Godzilla in Japanese, to replace the sunken Ady Gil . The vessel was painted Sea Shepherd black with Godzilla on the bow. The Gojira proved its effectiveness during Operation No Compromise under the command of Captain Locky MacLean. It assisted in disabling the Yushin Maru No. 3 and slowed down the Nisshin Maru enough for the Bob Barker to catch up. The highlight of the campaign is when they found the whaler's supply ship Sun Laurel and tailed them.

After the campaign, the Godzilla franchise notified Sea Shepherd that they could not use the name Gojira, so the name was changed to the Brigitte Bardot , after the French actress who is a supporter and board member of Sea Shepherd. The entire vessel was repainted silver with a picture of Brigitte Bardot with a Jolly Roger flag on either side of the bow.

Operation Ferocious Isles [ ]

The Brigitte Bardot played a crucial role during Operation Ferocious Isles in the Faroe Islands when the Steve Irwin was delayed. The ship traveled throughout the islands, watching for possible grinds. While tied up in port, the ship was surrounded by angry locals at night who harassed the crew until police showed up. The next morning, a drunk man untied the Brigitte Bardot' s mooring line. The ship monitored the beaches of the island, at one point discovering a whale graveyard. Towards the end off the campaign, the Brigitte Bardot joined the Steve Irwin in successfully driving a pod of whales away from the shore.

Operation Divine Wind [ ]

During Operaton Divine Wind, the vessel was placed under the command of Jonathan Renecle, who had worked onboard the ship before it joined Sea Shepherd. In late December of 2012, a rogue wave snapped the left pontoon of the ship, severely crippling the Brigitte Bardot . The vessel survived a storm and the Bob Barker and Steve Irwin quickly rushed to its aid. The Brigitte Bardot was escorted back to port by the Steve Irwin , while being tailed by the Shonan Maru No. 2 . The ship was repaired and reinforced and was able to take part in the next campaign.

Operation Zero Tolerance [ ]

In Operation Zero Tolerance, the Brigitte Bardot was captained by French sailor Jean Yves Terlain, who previously sailed for the World Wide Fund for Nature. It was the first vessel to encounter the whaling fleet, spotting and pursuing the Yushin Maru No. 3 . While attempting to flee from the harpoon vessel, the engines were overworked and failed. The Brigitte Bardot returned to port as prolonged exposure to the dangerous Antarctic waters increased the risk of another accident.

Operation Sleppið Grindini [ ]

The Bridget Bardot took part in the 2015 campaign in the Faroe Islands. Just like in Grindstop and Ferocious Islands Sea Shepherd was harassed by drunken Danish whalers who cut their mooring lines and attacked the crew. The Danish Navy showed up and impounded the small boats belonging to the Sam Simon, the Bob Barker, and the Bridget Bardot. Sea Shepherd has since replaced these boats when all three vessels were drydocked in Germany.

Drydock [ ]

The Brigitte Bardot was drydocked at the end of 2015 to repair damage to the hull. The vessel has since been transferred to Sea Shepherd France and is being used as a patrol vessel off the African coast.

Operation Mare Nostrum I,II, and III, Operation Siracusa, and Operation Bluefin III [ ]

As of 2016 The Bardot is back in action and is now in the Mediterranean working for Sea Shepherd France. This year the Bardot is taking part in Operation Mare Nostrum whose goal is to find plastic and illegal ghost nets, and also to take part in Operation Bluefin 3 to stop Bluefin poachers.Upon completion of Operation Bluefin III the Bardot took part in Operation Siracusa. The goal was to stop illegal urchin fishing and to recover gillnets. Upon completion of these campaigns and two years on patrol The Brigitte Bardot was transferred to Sea Shepherd USA on board the floating drydock and yacht transporter Super Servant 3. After a two month voyage from Italy the Brigitte Bardot is in Fort Lauderdale to repair damage to hull. After time in drydock the Brigitte Bardot will move to Sea Shepherd USA's operation base in Key West where she will be prepped for turtle conservation campaigns this summer.

Operation Jairo [ ]

In 2018 the Brigitte Bardot went through a repair overhaul before being reflagged to Dominica Republic. Since Hurricane's Harvey, Ivan, Irma, and Maria Sea Shepherd has been delivering supplies to the islands while also protecting turtles from poachers. On the last day of campaign Sea Shepherd and the Antigua Sea Turtle Project rescued an endangered hawksbill turtle who was cold stunned on the beach from heat stroke after being trapped between a rocky ledge and some drift wood. Sea Shepherd freed the turtle and put it back in the water ending a successful campaign and ensured it's young survive until they hatch.

Decommissioning [ ]

Because of the cost of repairs and damage to the ship in the past campaigns Admiral Paul Watson ordered the vessel struck from the Neptune's Navy register. In 2021 because of COVID 19 Sea Shepherd sold the vessel along with the Alchemy and bought the Conrad to replace them.

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Sea Shepherd Successfully Helps Guatemalan Officials Halt Poaching Operation

Wednesday, 19 Feb, 2014

Crew of Sea Shepherd Vessel  Brigitte Bardot  to Continue Assistance in Patrols, Spread Conservation Awareness

The Sea Shepherd crew of the  Brigitte Bardot joined a three-person Naval delegation and two officials of the Fisheries department for this patrol.

During the first night of patrols, as many as seven boats were boarded by the Guatemalan officials. Upon inspection, two of these boats proved to have an illegal catch of sailfish. The illegally caught wildlife was documented and then returned to the sea. Administrative action has been taken against the fishermen.

There are two types of fishing methods that the Sea Shepherd crew and Fisheries officials can encounter during these patrols: longlines and gill nets. These fishing methods, which are highly destructive and often indiscriminately kill ocean life, must both be in compliance with a set of Guatemalan government standards which this confiscated illegal catch did not meet.

The  Bardot  crew will continue offering assistance to the Fisheries department on patrols. The main goal of these anti-poaching operations is to gather evidence to present to the Guatemalan government. Sea Shepherd is hopeful that if these patrols show that illegal fishing takes place on a large scale and presents a significant threat in Guatemalan waters, more action will be taken to combat this serious problem.

“Guatemala cares deeply about their natural world and we applaud the government for taking this pro-active approach against illegal fishing activities that endanger the country’s natural balance and the environment as a whole. Sea Shepherd believes that direct action is needed to fight the serious and imminent threats facing the world’s oceans,” said Captain Alex Cornelissen, Sea Shepherd Global Executive Director.

When not on patrol, the crew of the  Brigitte Bardot  will continue to give talks at schools, spreading awareness and emphasizing the urgent need for ocean protection.

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In 2021, OCEANIC ASSISTANCE acquires trimaran MERIDA, former BRIGITTE BARDOT. This 35 meter-long ship, with a unique history, has proven itself all over the oceans. First designed and built for a round-the-world record, she was later operated by the NGO Sea Shepherd. Today based in Lorient, she is the ideal tool for many missions. Her maximum speed of 25 knots allows us to reach the area quickly and its range enables to cross the oceans.

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Sea Shepherd Will Use $12-Million Award to Build a Marine Batmobile

Seriously, stop hunting whales.

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The ocean conservation group Sea Shepherd , which regularly makes headlines by confronting whaling ships on the high seas, plans to spend the roughly $12 million it was awarded early this week at Amsterdam’s Good Money Gala to build a terrifying boat ideal for extra-legal, maritime confrontation. The group, which operates mainly out of Hobart, Tasmania, already operates the SSS Steve Irwin , named for the “Crocodile Hunter,” and the SSS Bob Barker, named for the game show host. The boats might not sound intimidating, but they are. What they are not is fast. Sea Shepherd’s fastest ship, the speed trimaran Ady Gil was rammed in 2010 by a Japanese whaling vessel and suffered catastrophic damage. The new ship will be designed to reach high speeds and be tough enough to withstand attack.

The reason Sea Shepherd, which gained an international reputation under the guidance of Captain Paul Watson, is so set on building a sort of Batmobile for the high seas is that the organization wants to be able to put its vessels between whales and the harpoons that kill them. Faster boats can interrupt hunts in a hurry. Bigger boats can make that interruption definitive. Ant the organization, which receives a great deal of funding from America and is not so well regarded in Asia, is not going to wait. “After researching possible shipbuilders for the last two years, negotiations with Dutch shipbuilder Damen has resulted in a blueprint of our ideal ship,” Sea Shepherd announced in a statement. For those keeping track, Damen  builds both offshore vessels and high-speed craft, including Coast Guard patrol ships. 

Whalers will head back to shore if they know what’s best for them.

Photos by Courtesy Sea Shepherd

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Street Fight on the High Seas

Several days ago in the Southern Ocean, off the coast of Antarctica, a Japanese whaling vessel, the Shonan Maru No. 2, heaved into a high-speed trimaran owned by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an environmentalist group that I profiled in The New Yorker in 2007. The collision caused about ten feet of the trimaran’s hull to splinter off and break apart into the icy depths. The event was both violent and perilous: the trimaran’s remaining shell subsequently took on large amounts of water, and one of the six people onboard was injured. Japanese officials have claimed, variously, that their ship was not at fault during the encounter, that the Shonan Maru No. 2 was acting defensively because the Sea Shepherd volunteers were conducting “ acts of sabotage ” and were operating within “ collision distance .” Sea Shepherd’s members have long sought an end to the killing of whales, and their approach often does include acts of sabotage and targeted collisions with vessels, but they insist that they were attacked without provocation. “They were trying to kill us, ramming us like that in one of the most hostile environments in the world,” one Sea Shepherd member told a reporter . “The only way to describe it is attempted murder.”

The annual struggle over whaling in the Southern Ocean during the past several years has become one of escalating drama and confrontation—largely propelled by the force of will, theatrics, and media savvy of Sea Shepherd’s founder and leader, Paul Watson. When Watson first commanded a ship to the Antarctic, in 2002, he could not find the Japanese fleet, which hunts about a thousand whales there every winter. But in 2005, his crew located and harassed the flagship of the whaling operation, a massive waterborne slaughterhouse named the Nisshin Maru. And in 2007, as I described in my piece, the Sea Shepherd crew, with a growing navy that included a helicopter, temporarily incapacitated a Japanese vessel during a high-seas pursuit amid ice floes. (During that expedition, Watson’s crew also lost two of its members in a terrible storm for a period of about eight hours.) It did not take long for television producers to figure out that these Antarctic campaigns contain a mixture of bellicosity, virtue, zeal, action, and unpredictability that is ideal for their medium, and for three years a production team from the Animal Planet cable network has joined with Sea Shepherd to chronicle its struggle.

This year, Watson seemed to promise a televised event worthy of the sixteen-person team that Animal Planet embedded into his campaign. With the help of Bob Barker , the former host of “The Price is Right,” he purchased a retired Norwegian whaling ship. With the help of Ady Gil, a Hollywood mogul, he acquired the trimaran, an ultra-fast vessel; it could dive through large waves rather than skirt over them, apparently, and it looked like it belonged to Batman. (Both ships were named after their benefactors.) The trimaran, a relatively frail thing that was never designed for polar waters, let alone sea battles, reportedly cost more than a million dollars. It might be easy to regard its destruction a kind of failure, but, as Watson has demonstrated time and again, this would be inapt, if not mistaken. For at least one global news cycle, anyway, he has done what a million dollars worth of paid television advertising might not be able to do: he has made the modern-day killing of whales a headline. More significant, perhaps, he appears to have drawn the Japanese whalers into the mode of semi-lawless, ship-to-ship aggression where he excels. He has lured them into a street fight.

Videos posted online seem to support Sea Shepherd’s account of the collision, but even if Watson’s crew had been acting recklessly and their actions in the Southern Ocean had been unsafe it would not change an unwelcome reality for whalers: there are limits to how they can respond to the activists who choose to harass them. In June, the World Wildlife Fund estimated that the Japanese government had spent twelve million dollars in subsidies on the 2008-2009 whaling operation—and this just so that it could break even. (Since 1988, the government appears to have poured more than a hundred and fifty million dollars into whaling subsidies.) At some point, if confrontations like the one that destroyed the Ady Gil persist, people in Japan will likely start asking: Should an organization supported by taxpayers not behave better than to smash through another ship on the high seas, nearly killing people in the process? More important: What is it about the slaughter of whales that requires such violent aggression in its defense, anyway? Whether fairly or not, such questions will remain as long as Sea Shepherd’s crew is able to go to sea. Watson is counting on it.

Not long after the Ady Gil was smashed by the Shonan Maru No. 2, I reached Watson by e-mail and was able to ask him some questions. He was commanding a crew of more than seventy people manning two vessels—no longer including the Ady Gil—and the helicopter. Here’s what he had to say:

KHATCHADOURIAN: In addition to the Steve Irwin, this year you began your Antarctic campaign with two new vessels, the Ady Gil (formerly called Earthrace) and the Bob Barker. How did you come about to acquire them?

WATSON: Peter Bethune [a sailor from New Zealand] designed, built, and raced the Earthrace, setting the world record for circumnavigating the globe. After accomplishing this, he wanted to do something about Japanese whaling, and he asked me if we would be interested in purchasing the vessel. I was interested, but the cost was $1.5 million. We met with L.A. businessman Ady Gil, and he donated $1 million towards the $1.5 million purchase price. In appreciation, we named the vessel the Ady Gil. It is a super-fast, long-range trimaran, and it gave us the opportunity to intercept the harpoon boats and block them for the first time. Television game-show host Bob Barker donated $5 million towards the purchase of the Bob Barker.

KHATCHADOURIAN: So the intention was to have the Ady Gil accept harpoon fire? Was the hull strong enough for that?

WATSON: Of course, there was a chance of suffering a hit, and the vessel would have been severely damaged, but that was its primary role.

KHATCHADOURIAN: So how did the campaign begin?

WATSON: The Steve Irwin departed from Freemantle, Western Australia, on December 7th. The Bob Barker departed from Mauritius. The Ady Gil departed from Hobart. Upon leaving Fremantle and approaching the two-hundred-mile limit [of Australia’s territorial waters], the crew of the Steve Irwin saw two different planes overhead throughout the day. About eight hours later, the Japanese vessel Shonan Maru No. 2 began to tail us and stayed on our tail for three weeks. They were faster than the Steve Irwin, and we could not shake them off. The Shonan Maru No. 2 actually attacked the Steve Irwin on three different occasions, using LRADs (Long Range Acoustical Devices) and water cannons.

KHATCHADOURIAN: LRADs are non-lethal weapons that have been used to disperse protesters, by soldiers in Iraq, and by ships trying to ward off pirates. They project high-decibel audio waves at their targets. Will you be getting one, too?

WATSON: We have one. We just have not used it—yet.

KHATCHADOURIAN: What gadgetry are you using?

WATSON: We have photonic disrupters to disorient the harpooners. They are lasers designed not to cause damage, but to blind temporarily, like flashbulbs. We have a few other tricks we have not used yet, and we continue to hit them with our non-toxic, biodegradable, organic stink bombs.

KHATCHADOURIAN: So then what happened?

WATSON: They aimed their LRAD at our helicopter pilot on one occasion, and when he landed, they came in close in an attempt to destroy our helicopter with their water cannons. They pursued us to the coast of Antarctica and back to Tasmania. I had to return to Tasmania to get rid of them because Australia would not allow them to enter the two-hundred-mile limit. In Tasmania, we refueled and then departed in the evening of December 31st under cover of a storm. As we approached the whaling fleet from the south, the Bob Barker found the fleet coming from the west, at 0300 hours on January 7th. The Bob Barker and the Ady Gil pursued and harassed the fleet until midday.

KHATCHADOURIAN: How did the collision occur?

WATSON: The Ady Gil came alongside the Bob Barker to transfer film, and the Shonan Maru No. 2 came racing up from behind and did an abrupt turn to starboard and rammed the Ady Gil at full speed, splitting our ship in two. It was a deliberate, unprovoked attack.

KHATCHADOURIAN: A maritime law expert was quoted in a New Zealand paper saying: “The Shonan Maru 2 should be giving way to the Ady Gil because it’s on the starboard side, and what seems to be the allegation of the Shonan Maru 2 is that the Ady Gil failed to keep its course and speed, it was varying its speed. There is responsibility on the Shonan Maru to give way, but also responsibility from the Ady Gil to maintain its course and speed.”

WATSON: The Ady Gil was virtually stationary at the time it was hit. The clutch was not engaged. The clutch was in idle. When Peter Bethune saw them steer into the boat, he rushed to reverse the engines, but the Shonan Maru was on them, and plowing through them at that point. The video shows a clear sharp turn to starboard by the Shonan Maru No. 2, directly into the Ady Gil. I believe the video images taken from three different vessels will answer all the questions in any investigation.

KHATCHADOURIAN: Was anyone injured?

WATSON: Animal Planet cameraman Simeon Houtman broke three ribs.

KHATCHADOURIAN: In normal circumstances, smashing to bits an expensive vessel of that kind would be a bad thing. But it also got your campaign, and the issue of killing whales, into the global news cycle for a brief period. I watched clips of the incident on CNN from South Asia, where I was at the time.

WATSON: I can tell you with certainty that if it was I who rammed and sank a Japanese whaling vessel in Australian waters, the Australian Navy would be on its way with a warrant for my arrest. But then again I don’t have billion dollar iron ore, uranium, and wood chip deals going on with Australia.

KHATCHADOURIAN: So, after the collision, how did you get your men out?

WATSON: The crew of the Bob Barker rescued the Ady Gil crew, and then spent hours removing all diesel fuel and oils from the wreckage. The Ady Gil was then taken under tow to a French research base at Dumont d’Urville, but quickly took on water and became difficult to tow. At 0330 hours on January 8th, the Bob Barker was forced to abandon the Ady Gil, and informed the Australian Maritime Authority of the location of the vessel. The Bob Barker than set course to pursue the fleeing Japanese whaling fleet while itself being pursued by the Shonan Maru No. 2.

KHATCHADOURIAN: Where are you now?

WATSON: I am on the bridge of the Steve Irwin. We are heading westward along the Banzare Coast. The Bob Barker is about a hundred and fifty miles behind us.

KHATCHADOURIAN: What’s the mood onboard like?

WATSON: I believe that the whalers deliberately took out the Ady Gil to demoralize and dissuade us. My crew are instead more determined and more motivated than ever to pursue the whalers to cut their kill quotas and damage their illicit profits. The lives of the whales are of more value than our ships.