9th International Submarine Races: 25-29 June 2007

Remember the old line about going to watch the "submarine races" with a girl friend? Well, don't laugh--they really exist--the submarine races that is! One of the most amazing competitions around is the human-powered one- and two-person submarine races. Actually, think of them as underwater kayak races, also using only human power! BTW, where's my Mirage Drive when I really need it?? Actually, I would be willing to bet that someone could come up with a winning entry using a light weight hull with a Mirage Drive equipped with the full-sized Turbos. No worries about hull leaks on this baby! So far as I know, no one has ever tried the Mirage Drive on a sub--Roadrunner--you listening??

http://www.isrsubrace.org/

Here are the guidelines.
“Each team must develop a one or two-person "Wet" submarine. Two-person subs must have one person providing the propulsion and the other navigating and steering. Both crew members breathe SCUBA from the air supply carried aboard. Each sub is unique, designed from "scratch," and relies upon novel techniques for propulsion and guidance.â€

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Very cool! I especially like the Bogus Batoid, though it looks like a little more work is needed. At least we know the concept works!

I can see two Adventures with the decks cut out, welded bottom to bottom, rotated 90 degrees providing a semi-reclining seated position with room for knee action, the drivewells facing port and starboard. There would be two sets of opposing turbos sharing one set of pedals. The rudders would then function both as elevators and ailerons. Visibility by videocam. We could call it the Fabulous Fourtuna.

Watch out Omer 5!

Hello all. Just a quick intro, my name is Bruce Plazyk and Bogus Batoid and Faux Fish are both my subs.
I would like to say that the best time I ever had sailing was on my ex-brothers Hobie cat on Lake Michigan many years ago. We froze our butts of in early May but it was worth every minute. Someday I would like to get a hold of a Tri-foiler and do it again.

Anyway, the University of Maine built a couple of human powered submarines with twin Hobie Mirage drives. They were placed at the top and the bottom of their sub. Here is a link to some photos: http://www.umaine.edu/MechEng/Peterson/ ... ctures.htm and a link to their papers: http://www.umaine.edu/MechEng/Peterson/ ... Report.pdf , http://www.cutler.umaine.edu/MechEng/Pe ... l%2002.pdf

A few other papers: http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/artic ... ature1.asp : http://www.navalengineers.org/Sections/ ... tation.pdf


Florida Tech also built a hybrid sub using a Mirage drive and a propeller.

You are right on your comment that Bogus Batoid needs some fine tuning. The first time that Bogus Batoid went into the water was about 8 hours before we left our home for the submarine races. To see if it actually worked we bought a 15 foot diameter inflatable swimming pool at Menards and set it up in our back yard. The object of this was two-fold: see if it actually moved and to see if it moved forward. It actually did both., although we could only move about 2 feet in the pool. I should have some better videos of Bogus Batoid soon. We are working on tuning the drive but Bogus Batoid will probably not get back in the water until next summer.

Hey Bruce,
A hearty welcome to the Hobie Kayaking Forum! Like you, many of us are fans of innovation and "thinking outside of the box" when it comes to kayaking, especially in regard to the Mirage Drive and other means of human-powered locomotion.

Also, thanks mucho for the links to the use of the Mirage drive in human-powered submarine activities. After going to your Web site and reading up on the Bogus Batoid, I had wondered if anyone had considered the Mirage Drive for such submersive endeavors--it seemed to me to be a perfect match on several levels. Glad to see that it has been tried!

Now my question is, how much more effective is the sub Mirage Drive propulsion system with the newer, full Turbo fins--has this been tried and with what results??

Thanks again, and here's to continued success in your future subversiv_, err, I mean submersive activities!
Best,
Dick

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