Speedboats are nice and submersibles, well, they’re nice too – and we have already covered a personal submersible in the pages of Thoughts from the Sidelines. But as impressive as these modes of transportation/exploration are, there can be no doubt that a hybrid between the two is bound to get the pulses racing. And that is certainly the case with Innespace’s Dolphin.
Resembling a cross between a submersible, a speedboat and an agile fighter jet, Innespace’s high performance Dolphin is as at home on the water as it is under it and is capable of a range of frankly astounding waterborne aerobatics that are certain to make you the talk of the beach. In short, this is more than possibly one of the coolest watercraft you are ever likely to come across. Period.
The secret of the Dolphin’s agility is the combination of a powerful means of propulsion linked with the sole use of its fins to power the vessel underwater rather than relying on adapting the craft’s level of buoyancy via traditional techniques (standard submersibles use a method of controlled sinking - using ballast - to dive underwater). This allows the Dolphin to achieve an unparalleled degree of freestyle performance as, not only can it skim across the water at impressive speeds, but it can also power itself below the water’s surface, perform barrel rolls and even jumps, as the video presentation provided below illustrates.
[etv]
(On a side note - the choice of the backing track to the above video alone should be applauded).
The specifications of the Single Seat Dolphin are as follows;
- Vessel Type:VASH (variable attitude submersible hydrofoil)
- Cockpit: F-16 Single Seat fighter jet canopy (un-pressurised)
- Controls: Independent dive planes and ruddervators
- Fuselage: Monocoque (Fibreglass, Kevlar & vinylester)
- Canopy: Acrylic & Polycarbonate
- Length: 14’ 6”
- Beam: 2’ 10”
- Wingspan: 6’ 10”
- Dry Weight: 980 lb
- Max Surface Speed: 30 mph
- Max Submerged Speed: 20 mph
- Max Depth: 10’
- Snorkel Depth: 2’
- Engine: Yamaha 2 stroke 1100cc (110hp)
- Safety Devices: Impact resistant canopy, 4 point safety harness, bullet-proof material firewall, 2 bilge pumps & buoyancy for emergency flotation.
The sad news is that the company are not, as yet, offering the Dolphin for resale – though a two-seater is presently in production – as they are only offering the craft on a display and lease basis.
Hopefully this will change in the near future, though the pricing structure of such a vessel will no doubt leave most of us in the wings merely able to look on longingly.
You can access Innespace’s website for more information on the Dolphin project as well as a display schedule via this link.
Further Related Reading on TFTS
Related Comments
Add Your Comment
TFTS Latest Posts
![ezGear Wii Music Pack Wiimote Instruments [Wii Saxophone, Violin, Drumsticks]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads2/alt/ezgear-wii-music-packrecentlsb-.jpg)
![Nikon D3x 24.5MP EXPEED Live View DSLR Unveiled [51 Point Autofocus, Nikon GP-1 GPS Compatible]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads2/alt/nikon-d3x-dslr-camerarecentlsb-.jpg)
![Cowan S9 Curve AMOLED Touchscreen PMP US Release Pending [G-Sensor, Dual Core PMP]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads2/alt/cowan-s9-curve-pmprecentlsb-.jpg)
![Logic3 i-Station25 iPhone/iPod Speaker Docking Station [New i-Station Dock]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads2/alt/logic3-i-station25-iphone-ipod-speaker-docking-stationrecentlsb-.jpg)
![EP Site Updates & New Features [See True Democracy in Action]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads2/alt/ep-front-page-on-acerrecentlsb-.jpg)
![Nextar Q4-01 & Q4-02 Portable GPS Navigation Systems [New Nextar SatNavs]](http://nexus404.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads2/alt/nextar-q4-01-q4-02-portable-gps-navigation-systemsrecentlsb-.jpg)
The Innespace Productions “Sea Breacher” Time magazine’s best inventions for 2006 ??? RIPOFF!!!
The lack of standards or the apparent lack of requirements that “reporters” actually do any investigation into the facts on their stories, has sunk to an all-time low.
In the world of search engines, all these so-called “reporters” do is to ‘google’ a term and copy what has been written before, never bothering to verify the validity of the article that they are plagiarizing. In the case of an article on time.com, a reporter, Mark Richards did a story on the “Best Inventions 2006”, in it he listed the Innespace “Sea Breacher” and listed the Inventors as Rob Innes and Dan Piazza, who had no involvement in the “invention” of the Bionic Dolphin™
Rob and Dan were students of the inventor, Thomas Rowe. They did no “inventing” or “innovating”, they merely took the design of Tom’s multi-seat vehicle, created in 1989 and began to copy it. While the story does acknowledge that the craft was “modeled” after the NolandWon, Tom’s first prototype, it incorrectly lists the pair as “Inventors”.
The resurgence of interest in articles concerning the Bionic Dolphin™ was sparked by the appearance of the two-seat “NolandToo” at the 2006 Wired Magazine’s NextFest in New York, during the last week in September. Wired Magazine terminated it’s relationship with Innespace in 2006, in favor of showcasing the true Inventor, Tom Rowe, and was an outstanding feature exhibition at “The most comprehensive Conference and Exhibition for Ocean Engineering, Science and Technology”, The Marine Technology Society’s OCEANS ‘06 MTS/IEEE - at the Boston Hynes Convention Center, September 18-21, 2006.
While TIME and CNN are two entities residing under the same corporate umbrella, CNN has been able to print three correct stories (see below) about the origin and current state of the Bionic Dolphin™ / VASH technology, how and why would their sister organization, TIME print the inaccuracies that were included in their story?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/10/26/bionic.dolphin/index.html
http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/29/technology/tech_future/index.htm?postversion=2006092919
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/12/17/spark.dolphin/
We regularly receive requests for high resolution pictures to go with a story that someone has written for a particular website or magazine, for which we have never heard of or given an interview to. How is it that they could have written an article without EVER having spoken to the inventor? The unfortunate answer is that they surf the web for things previously written, change them slightly and ignore the old standards of verifying the facts in the hopes that no one will notice and that they will get their story in on time.
Noland Corporation, TARCO Research and BionicDolphin.com are currently the ONLY legitimate, authorized contacts for the patented VASH, Bionic Dolphin™ (submersible dolphin, dolphin watercraft) technology. No licensing has been granted for entertainment, exhibitions, rides, racing, manufacturing or distribution at this point. Any claims to the contrary by Innespace productions or any other entity other than those mentioned above must be considered false and misleading.
[...] Check out the video here. Check out the whole story here. [...]