The Dream Team were victorious at the International Submarine Races (ISR) in Maryland, USA, last Friday, June 26, 2015. They broke the world speed record with their one-person human-propelled submarine, WASUB 5, with a final speed of 7.42 knots (13,7 km/h).
After a year of designing, building and testing their own human-powered submarine, the team of twenty headed to Maryland to compete in the ISR between June 22 and 26, 2015. The races were held in the David Taylor Model Basin owned by the US Navy. Twenty-seven teams from nine countries took part. The ISR are non-profit, educational competitions supporting marine engineering and ocean technology, organised by volunteers every other year.
The aim of the underwater races is to build a submarine that reaches the highest possible speed exclusively on manpower. All teams are given the same distance to build up their speed after which the speed is measured at a pair of time gates. The TU Delft team used a contra-rotating propeller driven by the pilot with a bicycle motion. During their first attempts the team had problems with the stability of the submarine, but adding a pair of fins to the back solved the problem. On the final day they started with the fins attached to the hull, but after two runs with a top speed of around six knots (11 km/hour) they decided to remove them to decrease the drag and increase the propeller efficiency. “In our last attempt, pilot Robert Braam shot through the water with a tremendous speed and it took four divers to catch him,” said proud team manager, Ruben de Nie. “Braam is one of our four male pilots, who have all gone through personalised training schedules and diets for optimal preparation.”
The world record won them the competition. This record was previously held by a team from Canada and stood at 13.49 km per hour. The win at 13.74 km per hour was the fastest speed clocked for all categories at the races, including two-person submarines. They came away with the Speed Award in the one-person category, the Design Outline Award and the Absolute Speed Award. The WASUB team are now two-time winners at the ISR, having first participated in 2005 when WASUB 1 won the one-person propeller and slalom races.
“I can best describe the last week at the ISR, and basically the entire year, as one intense roller coaster ride,” said De Nie. “Throughout the year we’ve been faced with numerous (technical) setbacks, but instead of accepting our loss we fought as a team to overcome every single challenge and stay fully focused on achieving our main goal: the world speed record.”
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