14 March 2012

The "Subwing" underwater glider


Developed by a Norwegian, it's a fiberglass glider that can be towed behind a boat, allowing the rider to "fly" underwater.

Product home page, via Dude Craft and Neatorama.

10 comments:

  1. Nice - but I'd like the hand-grips to be just behind the leading edge, for two reasons. First, it'd reduce the amount of effort needed to apply the control force by balancing it, like a balanced rudder or elevator on an aeroplane.
    Second - it'd protect your knuckles if you slam into the coral.

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  2. Looks nice buy I would not like to be involved in risk management determinations for that company. Looks like there is too much opportunity for someone to get injured and sue the company.

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  3. I'd still like a source of air. If your hands slip off 30 ft down...

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  4. When you water ski, you're supposed to have a spotter in the boat. With this, how's the captain supposed to know when to circle back and pick you up after you've let go?

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  5. reminds me of the personal scuba motors, AKA DPV's: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diver_propulsion_vehicle

    that article doesn't mention it, but the design for these traces its lineage back to East Berlin, where someone built the first one to use to escape via staying under water...

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  6. I worked on a live-aboard scuba diving boat, some while ago, doing 4 day trips from Cairns, Australia to the Great Barrier Reef. The engineer onboard, who was also a qualified dive instructor, fashioned something similiar using a tow rope and a rudder made from wood. He then got the mate to tow him along, on the outer part of the reef, to see what it was like.
    He lasted about two minutes before he started trying to clamber back up the rope frantically waving for help. He'd looked like a giant fishing lure and was being chased by a pack of sharks!
    Not an experiment he tried twice.

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    1. Yeah...I was kinda thinking that this would be an awesome prop for a Jaws-like movie. I can imagine it now....Someone is being towed along and this huge shark comes and cuts them off clean at the midsection- awesome!
      Otherwise this looks pretty cool and would be neat to do

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  7. i still have a book from when I was a boy, "Underwater Adventure" by Willard Price, and there is something like this device in his book that was written in 1954. The protagonist, Hal, or maybe Roger, rides it and is chased by a hammerhead shark,stung by jellyfish, dragged through fire-coral and ends up with an octopus stuck to his back. Its a great book!

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    1. And The Girl of the Seat of Cortez, where Paloma rides a manta ray.

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  8. Yeah, start running out of air and you start on your ascent and the boat comes to a stop. There goes your ride to the top...

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