Underwater Flight!

[RickI]

The Aqueon, want to "fly" underwater up to 6 mph under your own power?

If so, read on ...

CONTINUED HERE with video clips



p.s. - the article was shot with the new Olympus Stylus 770 sw, both still and video. Checkout what this little camera can do!

 

[rawls]

want to "fly" underwater up to 6 mph under your own power?

Looks kind of porno to me...Otherwise...a piece of crap... Why would I want to go 6 mph underwater while I am diving...to wear myself out and cut my dive short because I used up all my gas...

 

[ClayJar]

Direct link: Amazing Underwater Flight!

Makes you wonder why you don't see them out all over?

Perhaps you don't see them all over because most people have never heard of them, and once we *have* heard of them, there doesn't appear to be any handy way of buying one. (They're not one-off expensive things, are they?)

 

[RickI]

I don't think I've done 6 mph with one of these. Turn your head and off goes your mask. The inventor did speed trials establishing that back in the day.

They do allow fairly easy speed, faster than with fins, with less air consumption. I prefer to free dive with them then again, I prefer free diving in general these days. Trimix with five tanks wore me out on compressed media in the early '90's unless I have to have it.

Looks encumbering but once you are used to it, its not.

Have other folks used the 770 sw?

 

[RickI]

Here is something from the article that might be of interest regarding air consumption, fatigue and even guys using SCUBA gear. A couple of navy divers participated in the evaluation with some old Northhill aluminum 90 twins. I had a set of those as a teenager, hours at 30 ft., a novelty in those days and before aluminum tanks were even available to civilians in the USA.

In U.S. Navy trials two swimmers equipped with twin 90 cft. diving tanks and fins swam for all they were worth a distance of 1500 yds. The divers made it in 44 min. 20 sec. and were exhausted. They did the run again two hours later with Aqueons in 24 minutes and arrived energized and ready for more. You can review full product literature and performance test results comparing the Aqueon to fin performance at the link at: http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=4372

As far as buying one, Cal may have a few left. If there is enough interest, who knows? Lots of potential in the concept.

 

[Hoosier]

It looks like that this toy might be able to make you a streamline all the time.

 

[RickI]

If you spend a lot of time in the water it is good to explore other ways to get around. I used a variety of fins, dive scooters, tow planes and even wet subs over the years. This for specific function and at times for the sake of variety. I primarily used jet/rocket fins for a very long time for SCUBA and free diving alike. They were good for some applications, not so good for others, like extended breath hold diving. Finally tried long fins and switched to them for all diving even for most wreck penetrations. Function and to a lesser extent variety can drive things.

The Aqueon provides a different way of getting around and will provide some of that variety. I wouldn't want to use it for wreck penetrations. Still for open water swimming it can work quite well. It is good for cruising and covering a lot of bottom in particular. When I was a kid I wore fins with it. It is easy to step out fin along to do whatever and then come back to where it is floating on the surface and put it on again. It isn't for everyone but for some it is worth a look. With enough interest, perhaps Cal will put it back into production, an updated version with advanced materials (synthetic foils, composite kneel, and bearings, etc.) would be pretty intriguing.

 

[ClayJar]

With enough interest, perhaps Cal will put it back into production, an updated version with advanced materials (synthetic foils, composite kneel, and bearings, etc.) would be pretty intriguing.

And either a neutral-buoyancy version or a trim weight kit to make it neutral for scuba cruising, eh?

Actually, *I'd* love to get my hands on a set of plans. That looks like a great project for a homebuilt. I can't afford building (or flying) an airplane, but a homebuilt waterplane would be fun.

 

[Volume311]

Wow, That looks like a blast. I'd love to try something like that out.If you take that thing to the beach again for a trial again, I'd love to see it in action, I live in delray off of Linton.


Which brings another thing up, I snorkled that wreck in Delray yesterday morning with my roomate and caught a chunky lobster on it (let him go though).

-Mark

 

[Luis H]

Wow! I haven’t seen one of those in over 30 years.

We used to have one at the dive shop I used to work in Puerto Rico.
It looks cumbersome, but a few guys took it to a pool and tried it and they said it moves with very little effort. You can really cruise from point to point.

I never had a chance to try it, which is too bad.


Edit: This could be used as an alternate to a DPV.