May 19, 2023

What is it like at the age of 72 to have everything you have worked for, after 45 years, taken away by a hostile takeover by people you trusted and considered friends?

What is it like to see your ships sold off and scrapped? What is it like to see the movement you created diminished and “rebranded” to be something much less than what it was, to adopt a new agenda that is contrary to the original mission?

My answer may surprise a few people, especially the people who have worked to cancel me and to erase me from the history of the movement they unlawfully commandeered.

What is it like for me to be sued by the very organization I created for trademark violations for wearing a shirt with the logo that I designed and created?

The answer is that I feel newly invigorated, inspired and motivated.

They have given me a challenge that I intend to overcome.

I could have retired with a nice golden parachute. All I would have had to do was to shut up, write nothing and do absolutely nothing. Who the hell wants that? Money has never been a dependency drug for me, and I have never been bought nor will I ever be bought.

In the year since I was ousted from said organization, we have established an alternative organization (CPWF) to carry on the work we have been doing for 45 years. That organization now has charitable status, it has a ship, a loyal crew and we are about to head out on a mission to defend and protect endangered Fin whale in the North Atlantic.

Since 2012, I have fought the growing bureaucracy that has stifled our efforts and our strategic creativity. Those chains have been tossed away and the freedom to act is liberating. The people that I thought were at the helm with me had other self-serving agendas.

I started in 1977 with nothing, built it into an international movement and then lost it to a band of mutineers. Life sucks and shit happens.

Like Captain Bligh in bygone days, tossed into a lifeboat with a few loyal crewmembers, there is no point in regrets or despair. Bligh did not shed tears. Instead he picked up his sextant and compass and made course in an open boat to a destination thousands of miles away and through storms, thirst, starvation, and the relentless heat of the sun he survived with his crew, and went on to be Governor of Australia. The mutineers on the other hand made it to a lonely, deserted rock in the middle of nowhere, where they bickered amongst themselves and died in shame.

It feels great to step foot on a new path, to blaze a new trail, to set a new course and, most importantly, to remain true to what we are and have always been and will continue to be, and that is true, courageous, passionate, and dedicated defenders of life, diversity and interdependence in the Ocean.

These are things that they can’t and will never be able to take away from us. 

What brings me great happiness and satisfaction are the thousands of supporters and hundreds of veteran crew who continue to carry on this mission with me, and who understand that it is the movement that is important, and not the name or logos. Such things can be cast aside, and we can move forward under a new name, new logos and a new flag.

What gives me the greatest satisfaction and happiness is to once again head out to sea to defend our clients, the great whales and to do everything in our power to save as many Cetacean lives that we can, over the next three months.

It’s been a long time, the risks are great, but the risks are worth taking. 

At 72, after a half century of activism, I feel like I have been reborn and more inspired and motivated than ever.