Pedal Sub Team Hopes to Restore French Pride

Pedal Sub Team Hopes to Restore French Pride

(July 29) -- Though the 2010 Tour de France has just ended, one yellow-clad wonder just wants to keep on pedaling in France. No, we're not talking about Spaniard Alberto Contador, winner of his third Tour de France. We're talking about the Scubster, a prototype pedal submarine developed by a team of French entrepreneurs.

The team plans to enter the sub in the 2011 International Submarine Race, a biennial competition featuring human-powered "wet" submarines, or subs that don't provide occupants with a dry environment. Because the Scubster is a wet sub, its lone pilot must wear SCUBA equipment.

That the 2011 race will be held in Bethesda, Md., adds extra incentive for the team.
Wait, What?Terence Dewaele, AP119 photos Tired of spinning class? The Scubster -- a new pedal-powered submarine -- might be your answer. Stephane Rousson of France takes this underwater vehicle for a spin in the waters near Nice, in southeastern France. The Scubster team will take part in next year's International Submarine Race, at the Naval Surface Warfare Center-Carderock Division in Bethesda, Md.(Note: Please disable your pop-up blocker)
http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,localizationConfig,entry&id=705444&pid=705443&uts=1280416183
http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/media_gallery/v1/ke_media_gallery_wrapper.swf
Wait, What?
Tired of spinning class? The Scubster -- a new pedal-powered submarine -- might be your answer. Stephane Rousson of France takes this underwater vehicle for a spin in the waters near Nice, in southeastern France. The Scubster team will take part in next year's International Submarine Race, at the Naval Surface Warfare Center-Carderock Division in Bethesda, Md.
Terence Dewaele, AP
Terence Dewaele, AP
Wait, What?
"We want to do the race to show people in the United States that we can do nice things, too," said team leader Stephane Rousson in an interview with AOL News.

The 14-foot Scubster, however, isn't built for speed. Instead, it's been built for maneuverability, and Rousson hopes the sub wins the race's maneuverability category.

"Most of the other subs in the race specialize in speed," Rousson explained. "But we're different. We want to specialize in [agility]. The Scubster can go up and down, left and right with ease. That's its specialty."

Should the Scubster perform well at the race, Rousson and his team hope to bring the sub to market as an accessory for large yachts. And if the Scubster proves a hit, the team would like to move on to building dry submarines, which provide a dry, airtight interior.

The Scubster took shape last August, when Rousson, his partner Minh-Loc Truong, and a team of student volunteers set out to design the boat. In November, the 20-person team built a small-scale model and in January, set to work on the real thing.

With the sub completed only a month ago, it's been tested seven times and spent a mere three hours in the water. The deepest dive so far is six meters. According to Rousson, the team still has a few tweaks to make. The Scubster's seat needs to be readjusted and the propellers need a substantial upgrade.

The Scubster isn't the first experimental cyclo-vehicle Rousson has been involved with. In 2008, he test-piloted "Zeppy," a pedal-powered airship that he intended to fly across the English Channel. The crossing was scrapped, however, due to dangerously high winds.

While Rousson is confident that he and his team will fare well in the International Submarine Race, the last time a French team made news at an international competition, the 2010 World Cup, things didn't go so well.

Could petulance and insubordination bring down team Scubster?

"No, no, we don't have any problem like this," Rousson said. "We're not as rich as soccer guys. If only we had the money that these players had, we could fund the whole project on two months' salary."

Ship lost for more than 150 years is recovered

Ship lost for more than 150 years is recovered

Hms Investigator AP – FILE - This 1851 illustration shows the HMS Investigator on the north coast of Baring Island in the Arctic. …
Wed Jul 28, 9:24 pm ET

TORONTO – Canadian archeologists have found a ship abandoned more than 150 years ago in the quest for the fabled Northwest Passage and which was lost in the search for the doomed expedition of Sir John Franklin, the head of the team said Wednesday.

Marc-Andre Bernier, Parks Canada's head of underwater archaeology, said the HMS Investigator, abandoned in the ice in 1853, was found in shallow water in Mercy Bay along the northern coast of Banks Island in Canada's western Arctic.

"The ship is standing upright in very good condition. It's standing in about 11 meters (36 feet) of water," he said. "This is definitely of the utmost importance. This is the ship that sailed the last leg of the Northwest Passage."

The Investigator was one of many American and British ships sent out to search for the HMS Erebus and the Terror, vessels commanded by Franklin in his ill-fated search for the Northwest Passage in 1845.

Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the British government has been notified that one of their naval shipwrecks has been discovered, as well as the bodies of three sailors.

Captained by Robert McClure, the Investigator sailed in 1850. That year, McClure sailed the Investigator into the strait that now bears his name and realized that he was in the final leg of the Northwest Passage, the sea route across North America.

But before he could sail into the Beaufort Sea, the ship was blocked by pack ice and forced to winter-over in Prince of Wales Strait along the east coast of Banks Island.

The following summer, McClure tried again to sail to the end of the Passage, but was again blocked by ice. He steered the ship and crew into a large bay on the island's north coast he called the Bay of Mercy.

There they were to remain until 1853, when they were rescued by the crew of the HMS Resolute. The Investigator was abandoned.

"This is actually a human history," said Bernier. "Not only a history of the Passage, but the history of a crew of 60 men who had to overwinter three times in the Arctic not knowing if they were going to survive."

The Parks Canada team arrived at Mercy Bay on July 22. Three days later, the ice on the bay cleared enough that researchers were able to deploy side-scanning sonar from a small inflatable boat over the site where they believed the wooden ship had eventually sunk. Within 15 minutes, the Investigator was found.

"The ship had not moved too much from where it was abandoned," said Bernier.

The masts and rigging have long been sheared off by ice and weather. But the icy waters of the McClure Strait has preserved the vessel in remarkably good condition.

"It's incredible," said Prentice from Mercy Bay. "You're actually able to peer down into the water and see not only the outline of the ship but actually the individual timbers.

Archaeologists have also uncovered artifacts on land left behind by the stranded sailors, who unloaded everything before abandoning the Investigator.

The graves of three sailors thought to have died of scurvy have been marked off and will be left undisturbed, said Bernier.

Bernier said the next step will be to send down a remote controlled video camera to get actual pictures of the wreck. There are no plans to bring it to the surface and all legal steps will be taken to ensure the site remains protected.

Bernier also said the team will use similar technology to find the Erebus and Terror.

The Underwater Engineering Feat of the 19th Century: The Transatlantic Cable

The Underwater Engineering Feat of the 19th Century: The Transatlantic Cable

In 1839, a couple of inventors, William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone unveiled to the world their telegraph and It wasn't long before the idea of constructing an underwater telegraph cable that would stretch across the Atlantic began to take hold.

SS Great Eastern

To some, it may have seemed as out-of-this-world as would the idea of sending humans to the moon a century later. But 19th century entrepreneurs soon proved the concept could work, albeit on a smaller scale. By the early 1850s, France and England were connected by underwater cable and other communications networks soon followed that would hook up the United Kingdom with Ireland and the Netherlands. And there was no shortage of motivation: prior to the building of a trans-Atlantic cable, the fastest ships of the day took a week to cross the ocean.

Attempting a project on such a grand scale brought with it a set unique technical and logistical challenges - not the least being the approximately 2,500 miles of ocean which separated the continents. It's estimated that the amount of wire which got laid on the ocean floor was equivalent to thirteen circumnavigations of the earth. Despite a series of setbacks, the cable was successfully connected after a third attempt in the summer of 1858. Unfortunately, glitches continued and it would take another eight years before the new and old worlds could count upon a reliable underwater cable connection between North America and Europe. On July 27 1866, chroniclers would note that cable was pulled ashore at Heart's Content, a small fishing village in Newfoundland.

Rowing Nude Across the Atlantic, for Charity

Welsh firemen rowed across the Atlantic
Jul 22 2010 by Ciaran Jones, Western Mail
Simon Evans and Mike Arnold tell Ciaran Jones about their 76-day Atlantic crossing in the rowing boat Pendovey Swift which is now on show at the Swansea Waterfront Museum

SWIMMING with dolphins, basking in the sunshine and eating freshly caught fish – it sounds like the ideal summer holiday.

But for two firefighters from Wales it became just part of a punishing expedition across the Atlantic which took them nearly three months to complete.

And now their exploits are being commemorated by the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea.

Mike Arnold and Simon Evans spent almost 76 days rowing across the vast ocean between the Canary Islands and Antigua earlier this year.

After raising £60,000 in just nine months to finance their gruelling challenge, they are now hoping to collect a further £10,000 for The Fire Fighters Charity.

Simon, 39, said taking on the Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race pushed them to the limit.

The father-of-four said: “We wanted to do it for different reasons. Mike was interested in the history of it as he had some knowledge of previous rowers who had attempted it. For myself it was because I like to undertake a challenge.”

The pair did not have much time to prepare for their adventure, however.

Simon, who is a crew manager in Morriston, said: “It was October 2008 when we decided to do it and the race was due to start in December 2009, and straightaway we realised we hadn’t left ourselves a lot of time.

“Most teams give themselves three years to prepare – by the time the fire service came back and said we could go, we only had nine months.”

Mike, a watch manager at Swansea West fire station, said the process had been an uphill struggle from start to finish.

“The build-up was difficult,” he said. “Finding the sponsorship meant it was like two challenges.

“We did it through things like charity events and supermarket collections.”

The pair had to raise the funds for their boat, the Pendovey Swift, as well as their equipment.

They were meant to leave La Gomera in the Canaries for their 3,000-mile voyage on December 6, but bad weather pushed the start date back to the beginning of January.

The delays left the duo fearing they would have to give up on their journey almost before it had begun.

Mike, who has two young children, said: “It was very stressful. If it had been delayed another couple of weeks we could have had to pull the plug and look to 2011.”

And Simon said the bad weather at the beginning was only a taste of things to come.

He said: “When we eventually started we found ourselves in a storm and that is how it was for the whole crossing – we suffered very badly with the weather. We had planned to do it in something like 50 to 55 days but it ended up taking 76.

“We lost sight of land within 24 hours of leaving. It’s an immense feeling not to be able to see land.”

Both men are familiar with spending time on the water, but Simon, who lives in Bryn Mill, Swansea, said the conditions were beyond anything they could have trained for.

“We are both surfers and I have been part of the Royal National Lifeboat Association for 14 years,” he said. “But within the first week there were 60 foot swells and there was nothing that could prepare us for that.”

They were rowing around the clock as they covered up to 70 miles a day.

“We would row 24 hours a day,” said Simon. “I would row for two hours and then Mike would row for two hours, on and off.

“In between you would be getting your head down and trying to sleep as much as possible, but on a good day you would only get about an hour and 40 minutes within the two hours.

“Sleep deprivation was very much an issue and we suffered the entire crossing. Very few people have really suffered it to the extent we did. It had a burden on your eating habits, on your ability to row – especially at night when you would just find yourself nodding off – and it had a bearing on our attitudes. We had a few words, which is inevitable I think. But we went out as good friends and we finished as good friends.”

At one point the conditions were so bad that both men were forced to hunker down in their cramped cabin for five days without being able to go outside.

“Everything we did had to be done inside the cabin, whether it was eating or going to the toilet,” said Simon. “All of it had to be done within the cabin.

“We didn’t have a functional toilet – just a bucket. There was no dignity on board. In the first week we tried to maintain it but it quickly went out the window.

“The breaking waves meant our clothes were constantly wet and our skin was suffering. It deteriorated quickly, and our feet and hands peeled and we had horrendous blisters on them. We also had pains, rubs and rashes on our bums. Wearing clothes just caused problems and in the end we just did away with them and rowed.”

There were two support yachts within an 800-mile radius at all times, but Mike said they relied on the radar system and radio communications while at sea. The 40-year-old, who lives in Pennard, Swansea, said: “We had one close encounter with a Russian oil tanker getting within about 500 metres of us.

“It was at night and I couldn’t raise them on the radio. We got a response after they had gone by – I think a lot of them were asleep. They just got too close for comfort.”

Their 24 foot by eight foot boat was stocked with enough food for 90 days. Simon said they resorted to catching fish from the ocean to add a bit of variety to their diet.

He said: “We were burning up 8,000 calories a day – we had to replace those, otherwise our bodies would deteriorate and we would lose muscles. The food was high calorie specialist food and was basically dehydrated.”

A special water maker took the salt out of the sea water, and a jet boiler meant they could cook some basic meals like curries and casseroles.

Simon added: “When you added the water you could have quite a palatable meal but by the end we were getting fed up of the same old things.”

They often had dolphins, whales and even sharks for company. While they would swim around with the dolphins, seeing a shark made them more fearful about entering the water.

“It wasn’t a huge thing but it was enough to keep me out of the water for a couple of weeks,” said Mike

When they arrived in English Harbour in Antigua in late March, finishing in 11th place, they received a rapturous welcome, particularly from their waiting families.

Simon – whose large beard meant his five-year-old son did not recognise him – said: “The welcome was just so special – it made you feel like a hero. To see our families after nearly three months was quite a tearful moment.”

Mike said his two daughters, Lauren and Caitlin, were overcome by his return.

“I think they were a little shell-shocked – they didn’t quite know how to take it. My eldest was quite emotional – I looked quite different with a big beard and long hair.”

And despite their gruelling exploits, both men are keen to take on more extreme challenges in the future.

Mike said he was considering climbing Mont Blanc next summer, while Simon is considering attempting the Sahara Desert Marathon. He is also tempted to do the Three Peaks Challenge for the second time – but this time by boat.

He said: “You travel by boat then hit land in Scotland and run to Ben Nevis. You sail down to Scafell Pike and then run up that and then sail down to North Wales for the last peak.

“I’ve got a few members of the fire service wanting to do it – now we just need someone with a boat.”

The exhibition charting their voyage is running at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea until November 7

Wearing clothes just caused problems and in the end we just did away with them and rowed

Extreme Archaeology: Divers Plumb The Mysteries Of Sacred Maya Pools

Extreme Archaeology: Divers Plumb The Mysteries Of Sacred Maya Pools

URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, Illinois -- Steering clear of crocodiles and navigating around massive submerged trees, a team of divers began mapping some of the 25 freshwater pools of Cara Blanca, Belize, which were important to the ancient Maya. In three weeks this May, the divers found fossilized animal remains, bits of pottery and – in the largest pool explored – an enormous underwater cave.

This project, led by University of Illinois anthropology professor Lisa Lucero and funded by the National Geographic Society and an Arnold O. Beckman Award, was the first of what Lucero hopes will be a series of dives into the pools of the southern Maya lowlands in central Belize. The divers will return this summer to assess whether archaeological excavation is even possible at the bottom of the pools, some of which are more than 60 meters deep.

"We don't know if it's going to be feasible to conduct archaeology 200 feet below the surface," Lucero said. "But they are going to try."

The Maya believed that openings in the earth, including caves and water-filled sinkholes, called cenotes (sen-OH-tays), were portals to the underworld, and often left offerings there. Ceremonial artifacts of the Maya have been found in pools and lakes in Mexico, but not yet in Belize.

Maya structures have been found near two of the eight pools the team surveyed.

"The pools with the most substantial and most obvious settlement at the edge also turn out to be the deepest that we know," Lucero said. The divers so far have explored eight of the 25 known pools of Cara Blanca.

The use of these pools at the end of the Late Classic period (roughly A.D. 800-900) corresponds to an enduring drought that deforested parts of Central America and – some believe – ultimately drove the Maya from the area.

The need for fresh water could have drawn the Maya to the pools, Lucero said. No vessels other than water jars were found in the structures built near the pools.

"They could have been making offerings to the rain god and other supernatural forces to bring an end to the drought," she said.

Patricia Beddows, one of the divers and a hydrologist and geochemist at Northwestern University, found that the chemistry of the water in each of the pools was distinct. She also found that the water in Pool 1, the pool with the huge cave and a Maya structure at its edge, held the freshest water of the pools surveyed. But the water contained a lot of soluble minerals, Lucero said, making it problematic for anyone who used it as their primary water supply. Those who drank the water over an extended period would have been at risk of developing kidney stones, she said.

The divers extracted core samples of the sediment at the bottoms of two of the pools. An analysis of the soil, debris and pollen in the cores will offer insight into the natural history of the cenotes and the surrounding region.

Lucero recruited expert cave exploration divers for the expedition. She provided food, lodging and other basics, but the divers donated their time and expertise. The dive team included Robbie Schmittner, Kim Davidsson (an independent cave dive instructor), Bil Phillips, and videographer Marty O'Farrell, who produced the video.

The research team also included archaeologist Andrew Kinkella, of Moorpark College. In Pool 1, Kinkella and diver Edward Mallon recovered ceramic jar shards in the wall of the pool just below the Maya structure.

Three more divers, Steve Bogaerts, James "Chip" Petersen and still photographer Tony Rath will join the project this summer.

Lucero has studied Maya settlements and sacred sites in Belize for more than 20 years, and works under the auspices of the Institute of Archaeology, which is part of the National Institute of Culture and History, Government of Belize.

Egypt scours bed of Lake Qarun in search of antiquities

From PhyOrg: Egypt scours bed of Lake Qarun in search of antiquities

Egyptian experts have begun to explore the depths of Lake Qarun south of Cairo using remote sensing radars in search of sunken artefacts, antiquities officials told AFP on Wednesday. Antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass, pictured in April 2010, said the work was launched a few days ago. "It is the first time ever that the antiquities department carries out an archaeological mission in Lake Qarun."

Egyptian experts have begun to explore the depths of Lake Qarun south of Cairo using remote sensing radars in search of sunken artefacts, antiquities officials told AFP on Wednesday.

Ads by Google
Is Your Bank Collapsing? - Free list Of Banks Doomed To Fail. The Banks and Brokers X List. Free! - www.MoneyAndMarkets.com

Barracuda Spam Firewall - 50,000 customers worldwide. No Per User Fees. Free Eval! - www.barracudanetworks.com



Antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass said the work was launched a few days ago. "It is the first time ever that the antiquities department carries out an archaeological mission in Lake Qarun."

Khaled Saeed, who heads the department of pre-historic affairs at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the team under his supervision hopes to pinpoint "huge basalt rocks" at the bottom of Lake Qarun.

According to Saeed, the discovery of the rocks was first made by Egyptian-American scientist Faruq al-Baz, a veteran of NASA's Apollo programme, five years ago.

Baz, who now runs the Centre for Space Studies at Boston University, was carrying out a satellite survey of Egypt's Western Desert when he and his team discovered in the Lake Qarun area "a large number of huge blocks of rock."

"I believe that these huge slabs are made of basalt (volcanic rock) which were eventually moved upstream to the Giza plateau for the construction of the Great Pyramid," Saeed said.

Teams of divers are examining a 10-kilometre (6.2 mile) long stretch of sea bed in Lake Qarun, Saeed added.

The lake is the third largest in Egypt and is part of the Fayyum Oasis, more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of Cairo, and part of the ancient Lake Moeris, once a body of sweet water.

Fayyum is known for a series of colourful funerary portraits -- masks painted on wood tablets and dating from the Roman period (1st to 3rd centuries AD) which were used to cover the face of the deceased.

Expedition to Andrew Doria makes ‘significant find’

Lake Havasu, Arizona News-Herald: Searching for sea treasures
Havasu resident leads expedition to famous shipwreck; crew makes ‘significant find’

Pitch black, icy water, 230 feet below the surface and inside a 54-year-old collapsing ship.


Lake Havasu City resident Joel Silverstein descends to the shipwrecked Andrea Doria in strong currents at 220 feet in 2006 off the coast of Nantucket.

That combination would scare most people, but for Havasu resident Joel Silverstein, the dive down to the famous Andrea Doria shipwreck is as good as it gets.

“You have to be able to work in the dark, you have to be able to work alone and you need a fair amount of resolve. This is a very dangerous location and fatalities do happen,” said Silverstein, vice president and COO of Havasu’s Tech Diving Limited. “Sometimes it’s flat calm and perfect down there. Other days it’s a washing machine.”

But the famous ocean liner shipwreck that sunk in 1956 after colliding with the Swedish liner Stockholm in the waters off Nantucket still gives up treasures, Silverstein said. On June 25 aboard Capt. David Sutton’s R/V Explorer on the Silverstein/Sutton 2010 Andrea Doria Expedition, New Jersey divers Ernest Rookey and Carl Bayer located and recovered the “crow’s nest bell” from the Andrea Doria. The bell is considered to be “one of the most significant finds in the history of the wreck,” Silverstein said.

“This is an outstanding and historic find,” said Silverstein, the expedition leader during the find, in June. “In my 18 years of diving the Doria, this is probably the most significant artifact found.”

Andrea Doria historian and author Gary Gentile, who found the wreck’s stern bell in 1985, was also aboard the Silverstein/Sutton expedition.

“There was never any proof that a crow’s nest bell existed until today,” said Gentile in June.

Gentile has been diving the wreck since 1974 and has more documented dives on the Andrea Doria than any other diver, according to a press release. Fewer than 1,000 divers have visited the wreck from all over the world and 13 have lost their lives. Silverstein said the dangers, depth, isolation, freezing temperatures and strong currents have combined to earn the Andrea Doria the nickname as “the Mount Everest of dives.”

“The danger and the intrigue of finding something significant make it one of the most famous dives in the world,” Silverstein said, adding that he’s made 14 dives on the wreck since 1992. Silverstein’s wife and Tech Diving Limited President Kathy Weydig has made several dives as well. “We take a lot of precautions before heading out and safety is our absolute first priority. Finding artifacts is actually easier now than it used to be because it has collapsed and they’re just spilling out. Most divers don’t enter the inside anymore.”

Finding the crow’s nest bell was a combination of “great skill and a little bit of luck,” Silverstein said. The 75-pound bronze bell, which holds the Andrea Doria name, was largely covered in sand and debris on the ocean floor when Bayer and Rookey first saw it.

“The currents are so strong and move back and forth, so some days it’s covered and some days it’s not,” Silverstein said. “But we had flat seas, calm conditions and big fish (Maako sharks) and everything else that makes this a once-in-a-lifetime dive.”

The feeling of seeing the bell on the surface after Bayer and Rookey collected it is a feeling Silverstein said he won’t soon forget.

“So I’m standing on the deck with the others when this bag comes up and we look at it and we’re all star struck,” Silverstein said. “We’ve been diving this thing forever, and these guys on their first trip find the bell. And at that moment we knew this bell would change them for the rest of their lives.”

Sutton agreed.

“This was their first expedition to the Andrea Doria,” Capt. Sutton said in June. “Andrea Doria expeditions are hard-core adventures. A discovery like this one just makes it all that more special.”

But the most memorable moment on the trip, Silverstein said, was the moment when Sutton rang the bell eight times to signify the changing of the guard.

“From what we can gather, this bell was used on the crow’s nest to signal fog. So it’s quite possible that the last time it had been rung was when the Doria was about to collide with the Stockholm in the fog,” he said. “So when he hit it, it was the first time the bell had been struck since it sank in 1956. It was pretty moving when you realize that almost 1,700 people almost lost their lives in the shipwreck. When you hear a sound that hadn’t had a voice in over 50 years, it’s pretty emotional.”

Rookey and Bayer recently said they considered selling the bell, but expect to put it on permanent loan to be featured in diving exhibitions following its restoration.

“It’s a significant find because it has the words Andrea Doria on it, so it’s more important than the dishes and trinkets found on previous expeditions,” Silverstein said. “In the world of maritime collectors, the bell could probably yield upwards of $50,000 if it was sold.”

Those interested in learning more about the expeditions to the Andrea Doria and those looking for photos of the crow’s nest bell are encouraged to visit www.techdivinglimited.com. To hear and see Sutton ring the bell, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ_ipSJPvEE&feature=player_embedded.