Earthrace skipper Pete Bethune told the Otago Daily Times he had joined forces with anti-whaling group the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to stop Japanese whalers "in our own backyard".
After several months of negotiations, an agreement has been reached in the past couple of days for the vessel, which holds the record for the fastest powerboat circum-navigation the globe, to join Sea Shepherd's vessel, Steve Irwin, from December.
"I want to see these whalers stopped. And I am not going there to back off or to throw stink-bombs."
While clashes between Sea Shepherd and the Japanese whaling fleet were not uncommon, a lack of speed had hampered the protesters' campaign.
But with the powerboat capable of speeds of up to 40 knots, that would change, he said.
In preparation for the harsh Southern Ocean conditions, Earthrace was undergoing a three-month refit in an Auckland workshop but would not be used to ram the fleet, he said.
When asked what the crew would do when faced with the Japanese whalers, Mr Bethune said he did not want to reveal their secrets, but they had "four or five options available".
Two crews of five "hardy blokes" were wanted for the journey to one of the most "inhospitable places on earth", which was likely to be filmed for Animal Planet in the third series of Whale Wars, he said.
After chasing the whaling fleet for more than 3000km and running desperately short of fuel earlier this year, it was decided to refuel Steve Irwin in Hobart rather than Dunedin.
A Sea Shepherd spokesman said it had no plans to berth Steve Irwin in Dunedin.
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