SUBMARINE RACES

or
Finally he delivers.

For years, as a hot blooded beach boy I tried and successfully took a number of dates to see the nighttime submarine races on a deserted portion of the beach. I'm sure I fooled no one, but I did get a few takers including my current and only long suffering wife. In the winter of 2001 I happened upon Dr Bobs web site and began a long series of e-mails that revealed many mutual interests. One was submarine races. Yes they do have submarine races. On alternating coasts, teams of high school, college, corporate, and individuals who have way too much time on their hands get together and race man and woman powered submarines against each other, themselves, the clock, and those unforeseen errors in engineering and judgement.

Wow, another fun activity thanks to Dr. Bob who at one time had the worlds record for a man powered sub in the non propeller division....I pulled up the web site for the races and discovered to my glee that my school...325 miles from the ocean had an entry and had won the year 2000 races.

My blood races, here is one athletic event that I could care about. I contacted them by e-mail and soon visited them on campus at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg Va. My son Patrick, an EE Major at NC State and I drove up one weekend. He got to see my old campus and I got involved with a great bunch of kids. Here is Justin, the team captain, and Dr. Wayne Neu the team advisor. I was an instant submarine groupie.

My first real active involvement was in Big Pine Key. I decided that I could help with photo documentation and free up the kids to do their own thing. My wife Patti and I had not been to the Keys for a number of years so we decided ot fly down and see what was going on. The worst case scenario was some fun in Key West and a little diving. It was also going to be an opportunity to check out my newly built little pendulum rebreather in shallow warm water. An opportunity that I could not miss.

The little rebreather weighs in at about 15 pounds, including the six pound weight to sink it and cost less than $100 in parts. Just look at the size, weight, and costs of the gear on Jane, one of the team members. Dr. Noe was not excited about me using a rebreather, but he went along with it. I think he expected to fish my cold body out and waste time with all that messy legal stuff. The team members thought it was neat and when they found that it was a recreated system from my college days, became even more interested. Because of lack of oxygen, I mostly dove open circuit scuba.

The team captain Justin lived in the Keys in the summers,the poor boy, and his parents provided food and lodging for the team when they did their checkout runs in May prior to the June races in Maryland.

Justins parents provided a boat to take the sub out near Loe Key for the practice runs and a smaller chase boat. The sub was attached to the back of the boat and the team piled aboard either the big boat or the little chase boat. A course was laid out underwater and the kids began to assemble the sub underwater. it was interesting that the fish on the reef vanished when the boat was placed in the water. They must have thought a shark was nearby.

Even though most of the divers in the group were relatively inexperienced, I was amazed at how well then worked as a team to put the sub together underwater. Fragile fins had to be put on, controls installed and adjusted, and the pilot secured in. The sub is powered by a bicycle pedal attached to a gearbox the kids built that was attached to the prop by a shaft through the hull. Two hand controls connected to movable fins determine direction.

The hull is a composite structure that they built themselves. They had designed and built a plug in the shape of the sub, made an mold around the plug and then formed the shell inside of the mold.

Just think about it. That is a lot of work, creating something like this. As the sponsors of these submarine events say. "We ae not building submarines, we are building engineers. Damned good ones at that."

Here Dotty the secondary pilot, is loaded into the sub under Sams direction while Justin freedives the hatch down. Dotty is already using the subs internal scuba air supply and she also has a spare air. On her first run, she lost control and crashed into the bottom. It is better to end well than begin well and she did. At the real races, she became the fastest woman submarine racer in the world. How's that for a farm girl from rural Virginia.

The students worked day and night on the sub. After each afternoon's tests, they would eat dinner, work on the sub to correct those little things that failed and in the morning continue with improvements. This is the essence of engineering under the pressure of a deadline. In the afternoons the test runs would continue. They worked tirelessly.

By the end of the week, things were working out. Run times were improving and failures were decreasing. The group was really becoming a team. It was great to watch. They could get the sub in the water, outfit it with the internal scuba, install the controlls and fin, and be ready in minutes. Their confidence in themselves and each other was building. They were ready for the June competition in Maryland. I was as excited as them and couldn't wait.

Ok, if you have read this far go the whole distance
use some bandwidth
download the movie of the sub in action.

The sub was complete with a new paint job, the team with new uniforms and they were at the races. They were ready to go. Patti and I brought a machine shop in the back of our van with an electric generator so that any mid trial repairs could be made. We also took advantage of the opportunity to dine with some of my old "I" company classmates Steve and Drew who live in the DC area.

I taught Steve to dive in the 60.s and he is still very active in diving and marine archeology. We had many great times together at Tech in the 60s. I learned about Patrick O'Brian, who is now one of my favorite authors from those old friends. He is a great sea story author.

Constants ranged from non propeller division like this wonderful entry from the Merchants Marine Acadamy to sleek fusiform subs from the US and Canada.. Named Jonah, the plastic cloth covered tail wagging entry shaped like a tuna was truly classic in terms of humor and design. Costing only $200, it immediatly caught the attention of the crowd as one of the most interesting entries. It slooowly made its way down the underwater track to win in its division.

Here is Justin getting ready for a run. His Mom and teammates watch excitedly. The Tech team was so well organized that they were able to make more runs than anyone else. That was the result of all that practice in the Keys. When they had a problem with the hatch latch, they were able to break out the machine tools and generator, fix the problem, and get back in the races to the amazement of the other teams. It made me feel proud to see these young people in action.

Another favorite sub was this individual entry that arrived with no support team or help what-so-ever from Florida. The home builder had constructed this entry himself over several years. It quickly became the George Jetson Sub. It was a bit slow and hard to control but it did make it to the end of the runway. In these races, that can be an accomplishment. The guys on our team acted as helpers in the friendly competition.

The crowd cheered when he made it to the finish line after a number of problems. He almost gave up but decided to give it one more try after making some makeshift repairs over night. Quitters never win. What a guy. What a great groups of guys from the volunteers who give endlessly to the sponsors and the competitors.

And saving the best for last, here is Dotty upon learning that she was now going to be in the Gennis Book of World records as the fastest woman in the world in a human powered submarine. Not bad for the girl who crashed on her first attempt to drive the sub. The Tech team took best overall at the races and went home with a $1000 prize, planning for next years races in California. What did I get? Besides the fun of participating, some fun dives, and meeting dozens of great folks, my pictures were published all over the world in newspapers and on TV.

So that is how I finally delivered and took my wife to the submarine races. Can you think of having more fun. It would be pretty hard. I plan to go to the 2002 races. Look for the guy with the big smile and flowered shirts.

Here are a couple of links to the races.

Sub Site...Just Follow Your Nose From Here

The VPI Team Site With All My Pictures and Movies