These zippy vessels are great for getting in between a whale and a harpoon, stopping toxic waste being dumped at sea and confronting illegal fishing vessels in action. Inflatables are so good, we have been using them for over 25 years.

Technically, our inflatables are called Rigid Inflatable Boats. To our crew  who drive them they are just inflatables or to many people 'Greenpeace in their rubber boats'.
 
Inflatables are incredibly safe and far more sophisticated than they appear. Though they come in a variety of sizes and configurations, they all have a few things in common:

• below the water is a hard fibreglass or aluminium hull that allows the boat to travel at high speeds through rough seas.
  
• A specially constructed rubber tube runs along the bow and sides of the hull to provide the boat with exceptional buoyancy and stability in the water.
  
• A powerful engine makes the boat fast and manoeuvrable.
  

The inspiration for their use came from an unusual source. During the 1972 voyage of the Greenpeace yacht Vega against French nuclear testing, French commandos used inflatables to board the Vega and badly beat the skipper, David McTaggart.

The effectiveness of the commando's boats was not lost on our tactical mastermind at the time, Bob Hunter. If they were effective for the French commandos surely Greenpeace could put them to good use.

A couple of years later, the inflatables were in action challenging the Soviet whaling fleet and protecting whales from explosive harpoons, as they are still doing today.

Many inflatables have come and gone over the years, had barrels of radioactive waste dropped on them, been squashed by ships transporting illegal timber, impounded by police or just plain worn out. But all the inflatables on board our ships have names. Some mundanely named after their colour or manufacturer. But some are more imaginatively named such as the African Queen.