It was a either freaque or giant wave!

There whalers in this world and there are anti-whalers in this world also.  The whalers usually run, while the anti-whalers chase.  It's a serious matter.  Here's a news that involves freaque waves encountering entangled in this year end news that has already way over 100 articles written for it,  the follwoing is according to  The Tokyo Times that also showing the above picture:

A boat belonging to the anti-whaling activist group Sea Shepherd was damaged by a rogue wave in the Southern Ocean while chasing the Japanese whaling fleet about 1,500 miles south of Fremantle, Australia.
The boat, called Brigitte Bardot, was chasing the Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru in six-meter waves. A wave hit and badly damaged one of its pontoons. The crack is enlarging, but a Sea Shepherd representative said he hoped it would stay afloat until a rescue ship will arrive.

"Right now the safety of my crew on the Brigitte Bardot is our priority and we intend to reach the crew and then do what we can to save our ship," said Sea Shepherd founder Captain Paul Watson.
It could take up to 20 hours to get to the damaged boat, he said.

Japan has been widely criticized for continuing to hunt whales despite the fact that commercial whaling has been banned for 25 years. Japan hunts about 1,000 whales every year during a program that it calls a scientific research, but which critics say it is actually disguised commercial whaling.

That pretty summed up what's happening.  As usual no details about the wave is available, only some news just calling it a giant wave.  I have no idea what would happen if a freaque waves hasn't interferred.  There wouldn't be any news, and probably one less known freaque wave on the record.  Was it really a freaque wave, or just a large, may be giant, wave?

I guess this article from The Australian provides a fiting commentary following the above story:

FEDERAL Environment Minister Tony Burke has warned that the Southern Ocean is "no place for risk-taking" after an anti-whaling Sea Shepherd scout ship was damaged while pursuing a Japanese vessel off the coast of Western Australia.         

As the opposition called for the government to deploy a patrol vessel in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary, Mr Burke said Australia had no plans for further monitoring of exchanges between the Japanese whaling fleet and the Sea Shepherd activists.

"I would like to emphasise the Southern Ocean is not a place for risk-taking," Mr Burke told The Australian last night.

"The masters of all vessels should ensure safety is their highest priority."

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was forced to stage a mid-sea rescue yesterday after its high-speed vessel, the Brigitte Bardot, was hit by a huge wave in 6m swells late on Wednesday while in pursuit of the Japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru.

Oh well, freaque waves are always part of the risk-taking business.  Let's have our commentary just stop at that point!