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FYI: WSI'97/Florida successful!
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From Kevin_Hardy@igppqm.ucsd.edu Wed Jul 9 20:10:55 1997
Date: 9 Jul 1997 18:59:34 -0800
From: "Kevin Hardy" <Kevin_Hardy@igppqm.ucsd.edu>
Subject: WSI'97/Florida successful!
To: "SUBRACE LISTSERV" <subrace@ucsd.edu>
X-Status: $$$$
X-UID: 0000001838
Mail*Link(r) SMTP WSI'97/Florida successful!
Resent due to subrace listserv crash.
Apologies if you got this twice.
Kevin
--------------------------------------
Date: 5/21/97 1:46 PM
From: Kevin Hardy
Subject: Time: 1:27 PM
OFFICE MEMO WSI'97/Florida successful! Date: 5/21/97
*********
World Submarine Invitational
UCSD/Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Office of the Director
La Jolla, CA
Florida Atlantic University
Department of Ocean Engineering
Boca Raton, FL
*********
World Submarine Invitational 1997:
The Return of Submarine Racing to Florida
Universities collaborate to create the Third Evolution
in Human Powered Submarine Racing
by
Kevin Hardy
Director, World Submarine Invitational/California
University of California San Diego/Scripps Institution of Oceanography
La Jolla, California;
and
Susan Fish
Associate Director, World Submarine Invitational/Florida
Coordinator of Academic Programs
Florida Atlantic University, Department of Ocean Engineering
Boca Raton, Florida
Human powered submarine racing has returned to the Atlantic waters off
south Florida with the successful running of the World Submarine
Invitational'97 (WSI'97).
The Florida Atlantic University's Department of Ocean Engineering (FAU-OE)
(Boca Raton, FL), chaired by Dr. Stanley E. Dunn, organized the WSI'97
proof-of-concept event held in Fort Lauderdale, FL, May 2-4, 1997. The
Florida event alternates years with a collaborative West Coast in-basin event
organized by the University of California San Diego (UCSD)/Scripps
Institution of Oceanography. The academic partnership in experimental
submarine design promises other benefits to these and other affiliated
institutions from advanced technology development to regionally coordinated
educational outreach programs.
The prototype event was limited to four invited entries in order to test
and refine the format of a new open ocean race. The participating teams were
FAU-OE's "FA U-Boat," Tennessee Technological University's (Cookeville,
Tennessee) "Torpedo III," University of Miami's (Miami, Florida) "Magnum Pi,"
and South Broward High School's (Dania, Florida) "Sea Dog Sublime II."
The new submarine event design combined lessons learned in FAU's original
open ocean races with experience from the in-basin event started in
California in 1992, making this the third evolution in submarine racing.
Great consideration was given to making the event as supportive of
participant teams as possible while keeping operational plans simple to
reduce logistics costs and required support personnel.
In the WSI'97 event, teams launched and recovered their own sub. A sub was
moved to a starting buoy, then, when the team indicated it was ready, the
timing clock started as the submarine accelerated out following a bottom
guideline leading 500 feet offshore to a turn buoy. The pilot steered around
the outside of the turn buoy and returned to the starting buoy where the
timing clock was stopped. The guideline was 1-inch diameter yellow
polypropylene line weighted down to the seafloor. Orange 12-inch plastic
streamers were tied to the guideline every six feet. Fifty feet prior to the
turn buoy green streamers alerted the submarine pilot of the impending turn.
The yellow guideline extended past the turn buoy for fifty feet marked with
pink streamers. Individual times provided a ranking of the subs.
The WSI'97 was held in conjunction with the massive Shell Air & Sea Show
which drew an estimated crowd of 3.2 million people over the weekend of May
3-4. The Shell Air & Sea Show offered the opportunity of a large audience,
but also placed serious restrictions on the freedom of submarine operations.
Despite excellent weather on Friday, mayhem reigned as the fly-by air show
was unexpectedly moved up two hours. With submarine crews ready to launch,
submarine operations were suspended by event director Jennifer Ripple and
associate director Susan Fish due to significant and uncontrolled boat
traffic in the sub op area which included power boats, parasailers, skiers,
hovercraft, and a Korean War era infantry landing craft. These cleared the
area, and thought was again given to launching a submarine. However, an
incoming aircraft was announced over the public address system, and the
disappointment of the cancellation was transcended by bizarre humor as the
submariners watched a World War II U.S. Navy Grumman J2F-6 Duck make a low
altitude bombing run dropping several large watermelons across the submarine
course! As the offshore splashes crossed before them, beach observers
realized this was clearly a "first" for any submarine event! (Later, the air
show was suspended briefly during an F-15 Eagle demonstration while a DC-10
airliner passed through the airspace.)
Saturday weather deteriorated somewhat, while Shell Air & Sea Show
organizers reduced the window of submarine operations from 1 hour to 30
minutes. The FAU team "FA U-Boat" ran the course in a choppy sea state for
an unofficial time of 3 minutes 40 seconds. National Weather Service and
Coast Guard reports posted small craft warnings for the afternoon and evening
as a front passed through. Conditions were due to worsen through the night.
It appeared the single run by FAU was going to be all that would be
accomplished. That evening, over three-fourths of an inch of rain fell, and
Sunday's forecast looked bleak. Never-the-less, submariners were asked to
show up early the next day as weather often defies prediction.
Sunday morning greeted submariners with an eerie stillness--submariners
were met with flat calm seas upon arrival at the event site at 0730. Event
director Jennifer Ripple hustled everyone to the beach. Each sub would
likely be able to get in one run before the Shell Air & Sea Show got going on
its final day. The first submarine to go was South Broward High School.
Their sub, originally built in 1991 by 16-year old Steve Barton, was
reconfigured to a single propeller design. Steve's example inspired WSI
organizers to initiate the high school division at the 1994 California event.
The South Broward sub churned through the course, posting an official time
of 8 minutes 32 seconds. First on the board put them in first place.
Remarkably, the following runs by each university team were met with
technical mishap, forcing their subs to not complete the course! The high
school team won the WSI'97 Championship trophy!
Steve Barton's Mom and Dad were there to see the victory of their son's
submarine. Tragically, Steve, a talented young man of great potential, had
been killed in a general aviation accident late in the summer of 1995.
Several submariners said it felt almost as if he were there. All felt
satisfied with the way this event concluded.
Significant assistance in early planning or event support was offered by
the UCSD/Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Kevin Hardy, Tom Collins, Ken
Jay), University of Miami (Marc Macintosh, Daniel Cornejo), UnderSea Sports
(Matt Stout, Dennis Pampeno, Barry Steinlage), General Offshore (Ft.
Lauderdale, FL), members of the Florida Atlantic University (Dr. John
Jurewicz, Richard Kip, members of the OE AUV program), and students and staff
of the FAU-OE department.
The World Submarine Invitational'98, returns to San Diego, California in
June 1998. The Offshore Model Basin, site of the original in-basin event in
1992, and repeat events in 1994 and 1996, will be the site for this evolving
event.
WSI'99/Florida is in the planning stages for the early summer of 1999. At
that time, FAU-OE expects to have taken up new quarters in a stunning
research facility in Dania, FL, about 40 minutes south of the main FAU campus
in Boca Raton. As presently envisioned, WSI'99 submariners will make three
individual runs to establish their best time. The top 6 seeded subs will
race head-to-head in a single elimination event.
For more details, check out the WSI web page at
"http://siolib-155.ucsd.edu/wsi/". Vehicle design categories include human
powered submarines (HPS), battery powered Diver Propulsion Vehicles (DPV),
and battery powered submarines (BPS). Human powered submarines will again
challenge Guinness Book of World Records, International Human Powered Vehicle
Association (IHPVA) and WSI Invitational records. In addition, a grade- and
middle- school "Submarine Pinewood Derby" will involve younger designers in
the challenge and excitement of experimental submarining. /st/
Author Bios:
Kevin R. Hardy, at the UCSD/Scripps Institution of Oceanography's Institute
for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, is a Fellow of the Marine Technology
Society. He received his bachelor of science degree in industrial
technology/ manufacturing from San Diego State University in 1980.
Susan C. Fish, Coordinator of Academic Programs at Florida Atlantic
University, Ocean Engineering Department, received her bachelor of science
degree in Marine Biology from Florida Atlantic University in 1987.
######
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