Boat U.S. - May 2008 - (Page 23) prominent barometer directly at eye level. “The reason that’s there is not to tell the weather; it’s there to detect air leaks. Before you dive, you set it to the current barometric pressure. Then, when you close the hatch, it will indicate any air leaking from inside the sub. If you have a leak, it’ll show up here as an increase in barometric pressure. Before you surface, you always want to check this,” Smyth explains. Air leakage is not the only challenge. Carbon dioxide poisoning, battery power failure and a lack of navigational aids — a regular compass or GPS won’t work down here — can make operating a submarine seem like an extreme sport. Yet, despite this list, there have been very few personal submarine accidents and even fewer fatalities. Two levers control buoyancy, filling a forward and rear cavity using bottled air. A third tank is under the driver’s seat and acts much like a fish’s swim bladder for fine-tuning buoyancy. Pedals control a live rudder (it’s live because it has an electric thruster fitted to it) and two other battery-powered thrusters control the 2,500-pound sub’s forward and reverse mobility. Smyth also has scuba gear for backup breathing in case of a system failure. “I’m still new enough that every time I’ve been down, I’ve just been trying stuff out to see if it is working right,” says Smyth, who spends about 20 minutes at the bottom at a time and has dived to a depth of 50 feet. Personal submarine owners say they like to be open about their activities so they don’t surprise or cause suspicion in the waters they frequent. “When I went to Florida, I had a Coast Guard helicopter hovering over the top of me after a little while,” says Smyth. “But then they saw bright orange and white, and they knew I wasn’t smuggling.” Smyth’s sub is distinctly different from the kind used by Colombian drug traffickers, who have started using submersibles following tightened U.S. border security. Drug subs are not really submarines at all — they’re boats that float just beneath the surface and use plastic pipes to connect the cabin with breathable air. Diesel-powered engines propel the 60-foot cocaine-carrying vessels at 11 knots. Often sheathed in fiberglass, they are impossible to detect using sonar. Smyth’s sub has the opposite effect: “If you want to get attention, show up in a sub,” he says. “And I think it’s common sense not to go diving near a navy base.” Smyth says he has been fascinated by the underwater world since making an underwater sled as a teenager in Argentina and then seeing an ad for Kittredge’s subs in Skindiver magazine. “It seemed outrageously wonderful,” he says. Today, personal submarine builders and their marketers are hoping you’ll feel the same way as Smyth did. Dozens of web sites advertising the latest personal submarine innovations would have you thinking you’re the last to get one. Prices range from the most affordable $150,000 single-seater Uboatworx Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is reported to C-Quester to a two-man Ocean Pearl by have his own 60-foot sub (sleeps eight), which SEAmagine that will set you back $1.2 million. launches from the underbelly of his 414-foot For $90 million, U.S. Submarines’ Phoenix megayacht Octopus. And Larry Ellison, co1000, at 213 feet in length, offers 5,000 square founder and CEO of Oracle, is rumored to feet of living space on four levels — although have a sub on board his 458-foot Rising Sun, U.S. Submarines president Bruce Jones refused but those in the know suspect this is little to say whether the luxurious sub has ever been more than dock talk. The American Bureau of built. Shipping says it has only classified 37 vessels The sQuba, a James Bond-inspired Lotus as A1 manned submersibles (home-builders Elise convertible submersible that debuted at typically do not pursue ABS classification). Switzerland’s Geneva Motor Show in March, Besides issues of safety, operation and mainteepitomized nance, some industry enthusiasts are skeptical the hype of the personal sub on megayacht trend. surround“I think people have this idea that they’ll ing persongo down and see thousands of fish hovering al submaaround them and it’s going to be as clear as rines, says day,” says Jon Wallace, Personal Submersibles SEAmagine Organization co-founder. “People are going Vice to be disappointed because there’s really not President that much to see down there — unless you’re Charles Kohnen, who adds that in some cases, submarine marketers are getting ahead of their manufacturers by advertising products that still have many kinks to work out. Price and delivery then become two big issues, he says. If you’re thinking you might want Photos courtesy of PSUBS.org to give a personal PSUBS convention at Raystown Lake, PA. A look inside Smyth’s submarine (Inset). submarine a try, but don’t quite have the $1.2 million needed really into subs or scuba diving and you’re tarto buy one, or you’re not up to building your geting your mission to view a wreck or someown (for about $20,000), you might consider thing specific.” signing up for submarine school. A three-day Wallace, an avid scuba diver, says for him, program in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the the submarine attraction is simply for the thrill spring of 2009 costs $17,000 and is offered of it. He gets excited looking at a rock knowthrough Deepflight.com. ing he’s the first human to lay eyes on it. “It’s Kohnen describes the current trend for seeing things that nobody else has seen.” personal submarines as the second wave — His organization attracts 50,000 visits to the first being in Kittredge’s days of the 1960s its web site Psubs.org each month. “There’s and ‘70s. Submarine research and developa very high curiosity factor,” he says. “But ment stalled in the 1980s and ‘90s when the there’s less of a dedication factor — 50,000 military shifted its focus to computerized poke and look, but only 375 are on the mailunmanned submersibles. Tourism submarines ing list, and of those, only about 15% are (in tropical waters worldwide, but would you building or have a sub.” Interestingly, not believe also, a 22-passenger submarine at the one of the 375 mailing list participants is West Edmonton Mall, Canada) have kept the female. The group is evenly comprised of three industry viable, but the technology has not distinct groups: engineers — software, civil, really advanced until recent years when large and electrical; scuba divers and those curiyacht owners started buying submersibles for ous about the technology. And they use their their private use, he says. submarines for a variety of activities including Despite all the talk, only four megayachts treasure hunting, aiding in research and rescue have submersibles on board so far (although operations. The group will host its annual conthere are another handful on order), according vention in Rockland, ME, from August 1-3 to to Kohnen. Sub ownership is often held secret mark Kittredge’s 90th birthday in his under confidentiality agreements between home state. — By Jill Culora builders and megayacht owners. Despite this, BoatU.S. Magazine May 2008 23 http://Deepflight.com http://Psubs.org
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