Lauri Myllyvirta blogging. More photos on board the Happy Ranger.

Today we have had four new people come on board. Three inflatable boats traveled two hours from the Swedish coast to reach Happy Ranger and the climbers got on board smoothly using the wire ladder we lowered to them. Two activists who spent the last night on the deck of Happy Ranger went back to the shore and to the warmth. The new ones brought new energy and lots of chocolate with them which made us really happy.

The captain of Happy Ranger got very upset because of the new action. He ordered the ship to a halt and called the coastguard, saying he will not tolerate more than six people on board. The stalemate lasted an hour, after which engines were started. The coast guard payed us a visit with a chopper and saw the banners reading “Nuclear madness made in France”, but did not land.

We are in good spirits and expect to arrive in a port near the Olkiluoto nuclear plant tomorrow.

We just had a chat about the Bataan nuclear plant with one of the Philippino crew members, which is also facing widespread public opposition. So far I have met no crew members that would particularly like the fact that they are delivering heavy components for another dirty nuclear reactor. I have told some of them to give me a call if they ever get to deliver wind turbines or other clean energy equipment to Nordic.

I sure hope we can help our decision makers come to their senses so that one day I will get that call!

Lauri Myllyvirta

Video from yesterday’s boarding.

Virpi Oinonen

 
Photo Lauri Myllyvirta. More photos.

As I’m writing this more than three hours after our boarding, things have calmed down. We had most of the crew, about 15 people, around us in the beginning. We explained that we are here to protest against a dangerous and costly French nuclear experiment, not their ship or company. One crew member was quite upset about us being on board and cut a few handbanners in half with a knife, while others took pictures with their cellphones and chatted with us.

We went to meet the captain on the bridge and agreed with him that we would stay in one place on the deck and stay visible for his peace of mind, as well as not point our headlamps towards the bridge during dark hours.

Then we had one crew at a time to keep us company for some time, now we are the only people on deck. We are eating and agreeing watches for the night before we go to sleep. The temperature of the seawater is still 8 degrees celsius, so we are counting on the sea to keep us warm. And we certainly hope our action can help in putting an end to this nuclear madness and make this the last shipment of its kind.

Lauri Myllyvirta