33Million Dollar Hippie Ship Docked in San Francisco

Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior, the floating, green-hued hub for environmental activism, pulled into Pier 15 Friday and will remain through Nov. 19, open for free public tours, art shows, films, panel discussions and live music.

Up to 900 people a day are expected to visit the boat, made famous by a 1985 incident off the coast of New Zealand when the French bombed - and sank - its predecessor, the first Rainbow Warrior, during a nuclear weapons protest.

The new Rainbow Warrior (actually, the third overall) is a $33 million, custom-built sailboat outfitted with a helipad, and unique A-frame masts that give the boat stability and allow it to derive 90 percent of its power from the wind. It's designed to accommodate up to 32 crew members as they circle the globe blocking oil tankers, protesting deforestation and taking up other environmental crusades.

The job is not without its hazards. Its sister ship, the Arctic Sunrise, saw its crew of about 30 arrested in September by the Russian Coast Guard and imprisoned in Murmansk, awaiting trial for piracy after the crew attempted to string a protest banner across a Russian oil rig. They face 15 years in jail if convicted.

Joel Stewart, captain of the Rainbow Warrior, is not fazed.

"The real risk isn't getting arrested, it's climate change," he said Sunday. "No amount of military superiority or terrorism is going to get us out of this one. ... The risk is definitely worth it."

While in San Francisco, Greenpeace staff are protesting a Stockton palm-oil refinery that imports large volumes of palm oil from deforested Indonesian rain forest.

Next it's off to San Diego, then Central and South America.

"People used to think of the Rainbow Warrior as a hippie ship," said Greenpeace spokeswoman Kat Clark. "But now we're scientists, activists, professionals. ... And the need is greater than ever."

Oh, this sounds like field trip all over it. There are probably soon real cooks aboard this sailboat. The best part about them protesting is that they are doing it aboard a $33 million dollar boat.

The thought logic to protest.. I can respect, but a Russian oil tanker? Do you not remember the Somalia's that took the Russian ship a few years ago... yeah, those Somalia's are dead. The Russians wasted no time in killing them.

I figure if I go in my Halloween best... I will fit right in. Space Squirrel reporting live from Pier #15.