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Interesting that the CIA conclusion for a device very similar to the article is "Not recommended for operational use due to its discomfort and very slight gain
by pge 2y ago
Interesting that the CIA conclusion for a device very similar to the article is "Not recommended for operational use due to its discomfort and very slight gain in speed over that of a swimmer equipped with fins."
- causal 2y agoYeah I think for most uses I would still prefer fins for their agility. Cool idea though, and we probably haven't seen peak efficiency here.
- RajT88 2y agoPeak efficiency probably looks like this: https://newatlas.com/marine/jetcycle-hydrofoil-pedal-bike/ https://newatlas.com/marine/jetcycle-hydrofoil-pedal-bike/
- causal 2y agoNice - yeah that looks more optimal to me.
- aidenn0 2y ago30x the cost though...
- gnicholas 2y agoThat looks absolutely amazing. Super cool that you can maintain elevation at less than 6 MPH — I was expecting it to be closer to 10 or 15 MPH.
- RajT88 2y ago6mph is nothing to sneeze at on the water, in terms of the power it takes to sustain that kind of speed. A person paddling can't sustain 6mph for very long, if they get there at all.
- Retric 2y agoWorld record for a human powered hydrofoil is 21.3 mph. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decavitator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decavitator 6mph looks a lot more reasonable in that context.
- gnicholas 2y agoSure, but a person paddling isn't hydrofoiling, right? They're using their arms instead of legs and contending with tons of additional friction/drag. I see this as being akin to bicycling, since it uses the same muscles.
- RajT88 2y agoHere's what I am getting at... https://youtu.be/SDX3Hz2gsas https://youtu.be/SDX3Hz2gsas A guy on one of these doing the minimum speed. He doesn't look like he's casually pedaling, no? It's probably harder to maintain 6mph than you might think.
- malfist 2y agoEh, it's hard to tell power output from pedaling cadence unless it's a fixed gear ratio. Most people pedal between 70-100 rpm regardless of the watts they're producing.
- diydsp 2y agoThere are some clues in their body language. they appear to be straining. And the pedal movement looks a little jerky, as if the load is changing dynamically in relation to the effective flywheel/inertia of the system. Spinning a higher speeds with less torque is supposedly less tiring. So they might want to gear this down a bit and include a larger flywheel/inertia. Very impressive device tho. Maybe a hybrid approach with a solar panel for charging on the beach...
- newaccount74 2y ago
- tigen 2y agoLooks like pretty hard work compared to land bikes. You never get to coast downhill. I wonder if you can get it to surf on waves.
- space_oddity 2y agoWith bicycle love the idea that you still can feel yourself as a fish
- flawsofar 2y agoEspecially in the water I neither want the burden of being attached to something nor the burden of retrieving it.
- csours 2y agoprobably should read "trained swimmer with fins" It can take some time to get used to fins and the motions needed. Many more people have ridden a bike
- delfinom 2y agoTraining isnt a problem for government run operations which is their context
- csours 2y agoYes, but it's not my context.
- noncoml 2y agoContext of the reply thread…
- andrewflnr 2y ago... which was itself in the context of a device for civilians. To avoid litigating the primacy of nested contexts in a casual conversation, maybe let's agree to not be so picky about which caveats are on topic?
- noncoml 2y agoA reply is always in the context of the thing that is being replied on. It’s how replies work… If there is an article about berries and you say you love blueberries and I reply saying “I hate them”, it in the context of blueberries. It doesn’t mean I hate all berries. And I shouldn’t have to clarify that, since I’m replying to a comment about blueberries. How else could this work?
- andrewflnr 2y agoAnd everything is always in exactly one easily defined context, right? So for a comment reply we already know the full context just by looking at its immediate parent. That's how nested replies work, right?
- freeqaz 2y agoToss a battery on it though and what does it look like then? Perhaps you're able to augment a human's ability to traverse longer distances more quickly. That's tech that didn't really exist back then!
- thatguy0900 2y agoThey already have those, seabobs
- londons_explore 2y agoAnd it would probably do a decent job of cutting you or your friends up when human and the propellor come into contact...
- lukan 2y agoThe article says they move slow enough to not be dangerous. That could be true even battery powered.
- HumblyTossed 2y agoSea scooters already exist. They pull not push from what I see. Basically they’re EDFs with a place to hold on.
- helsinkiandrew 2y agoThere's tens of different companies that make these from about $300 https://scootermotion.com/shop/seascooters/ https://scootermotion.com/shop/seascooters/