Its a bit old this thread so I hope you dont mind me replying, after all I havent had my opinion in this yet!
Now, the GreenPeace ship Esperanza is truly beautiful with its coloring and works hard to protect the whales.
The Steve Irwin (Sea Shepherd) looks really tough and like it means bussiness.
For me personally, Sea Shepherd goes that one step further in stopping the whalers, maybe its just me but I love it how the Steve Irwin rams gently pushes the whaling ships out of course in order to stop them achieving their goal.
And yes I think VSTEP have chosen the right option, Esperanza. But it would be a great idea to then add Sea Shepherd to the shipyard later.
Many Kind Regards
Matthew Brown