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'Underwater bicycle' propels swimmers forward at superhuman speed

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Re: 'Underwater bicycle' propels swimmers forward at superhuman speed

#26

Post by etrautmann »

debacle wrote: post #16
bilsbie wrote: post #10

I wish we could find a good way to bike over the surface of the water. I haven’t seen anything that’s not slow and cumbersome.

Anything you choose will be cumbersome because you can't create friction on the water (well...), your ability to move is based on your ability to move water around you. There are solutions that leverage a pair of catamarans and a track system, or a prop. These tend to move very slowly, much slower than a canoe or kayak. The water wheel style systems seem to move faster, but you can just get a pedal kayak and will be…

I've always wondered why nobody has created something that looks like a catamaran with two rowing shells and a road bike on top directly connected to a prop. That would have minimal drag, an optimal body positioning for using leg muscle strength, and would be fun and intuitive to pilot (facing forwards, feels like biking, etc). The obvious downside is that height above water may be an issue so the catamaran would have to be wide, but it seems solvable.

Re: 'Underwater bicycle' propels swimmers forward at superhuman speed

#27

Post by neerajk »

> The nominal mode enables motion through the water at 3.6 km/h, and for speed-seekers, the SEABIKE can reach a maximum of 7.9 km/h – much faster than normal swimming speeds or even flipper-assisted swimming.

https://www.nauticexpo.com/prod/seabike/product-68606-564117...

Pretty fast, but "superhuman"? For short distances Michael Phelps can swim faster :)

Re: 'Underwater bicycle' propels swimmers forward at superhuman speed

#28

Post by Pxtl »

I mean swim fins also propel swimmers at superhuman speeds (aside, it would be really cool if there was a proper competitive community for stuff like that, like how on land we have races for runners and races for cyclists; edit: Google informs me the competitive sport has world championships and is called "finswimming"). Is there any quantitative comparison between this doodad and fins?

It doesn't even have convenience going for it since you have to strap into it, so it's probably almost as much of a ball-ache to put on as fins, plus the awkward problem that it's hard to stand up.

If they can make it work without the waist strap (or have super-quick disconnect for that strap) I could see that convenience being nice, but still, I'd like proper comparison with fins.

Re: 'Underwater bicycle' propels swimmers forward at superhuman speed

#30

Post by Pxtl »

bilsbie wrote: post #13
tamis022 wrote: post #4

Motorized propellers have existed for 20+ years and are routinely used in spearfishing. What the heck is the news!? https://www.amazon.com/Nautica-Skipper-Seascooter/dp/B0BLP9Z...

I’ve always wished those were slightly cheaper and slightly faster. 4mph and under $250 and I’m sold!

I assume that now that we're in the world of hyper-cheap batteries I'm sure we'll see somebody do that soon enough.
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