Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] fascinating stories

["Brian Cox" <ojaibees@ojai.net>]

Carsten,  Please don't stop building  but if you get a chance -

I would like to hear :   How to trim a passenger sub with the friendly kindness of the
seabottom (Gran Canaria tourist sub)- 

Brian Cox






From: "Carsten Standfuss" <MerlinSub@t-online.de>
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 9:05 AM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] fascinating stories


> Hi Doug - which story you want to here.. 
> 
> - Two boys, a 60ts submarine, a box of beer and a sandbank.. (Spurdog)
> - If you want a fire - switch the motorcontroller to reverse
> (Sgt.Peppers)
> - How to trim a passenger sub with the friendly kindness of the
> seabottom (Gran Canaria tourist sub)
> - Surfacing the brand new sub, a steel bar and a big bang (Freya) 
> - A submarine, a thruster, a propeller, a diver and a cry (Sgt.Peppers)
> - Why a beautiful girl on the neck of the sub prevent diving
> (Sgt.Peppers) 
> - 7 boats - a storm - 1 boat left (Spurdog) 
> 
> I will tell only one of the storys - tell me which one.. I am a
> technican more intresting to build the next one - so time is limitet..
> 
> regards Carsten 
> 
> SeaLordOne@aol.com schrieb:
> > 
> > Thijs,
> > 
> > When I first joined this group, I asked myself, where are the stories?  I assumed that people who are passionate enough about diving to build their own submarines would "flood" the site with interesting stories of their adventures.  But that has not been the case, in my assessment.
> > 
> > One hypothesis is that most folks are still at the design and engineering stage of their boats, so they have no stories yet to tell.  But I don't see data to support that hypothesis.  There are quite a number of folks on this site who have in fact had those adventures...but they do not talk about them very much.  They continue to discuss the engineering of the boats.  I sometimes wonder if they are more interested in operating their boat, or designing the next one?
> > 
> > That hypothesis suggests that many of the folks on this site are more interested in designing and building their boat than they are about operating it.  That might explain why people who already have their boats keep talking about design issues.  We may have a lot more "engineers" than "romantics".  I am a romantic.  The only reason I am willing to do all of the math is because I want to be a U-Boat Commander, a Captain Nemo.  I just may not be typical of this group.  This group may have more "engineers" than "romantics".  (Not to say these are mutually exclusive categories: John Holland and Simon Lake were both).
> > 
> > Mark Ragan spoke at the PSUBS conference this year.  He built a K-350, which led to searching for the Hunley, which led to writing books on the Hunley, which led to moving to the excavation site of the Hunley to become the Hunley Historian in Residence at the Museum.  Something like that.  He traced this theme, how one thing led to another, and concluded by telling us that if we simply build our boats, the adventures will come along.  He too, it appears to me, is a romantic.  To him, and to me, the psub is not the goal.  The adventures are the goal.  The psub is just the bridge (no pun intended) to get me there.
> > 
> > Another thought is that once folks build the boat, they leave the group, or at least become less active.  Perhaps you need the group a lot to design, you need them less to build and test, and you hardly need them at all to operate and maintain.
> > I don't know.
> > 
> > Just a few musings.  Perhaps I need to share a few Undanuted stories?  Or would "the engineers" roll their eyes at me and steer me back to the math, like a wayward grade school student who had not done his homework?  Just kidding!
> > 
> > Doug Farrow
> 
>