Dive-planing with dolphins youtube video

[Travis McGee]

I didn't have a board in front of me when I wrote 1" diameter, holding a board, that appears too tight. I'd just use a jig saw and open up the forward edge of the slots, leaving the back (gripping) edge the same. About 1.25 to 1.5". You will get a feel for it. You just don't want to pinch your knuckles in turns.

[Cormorant]

Cool. I opened the handholds up a bit with the jigsaw and it's much better. Thanks again.

[Nicholson58]

Great videos & thanks for sharing the technology. We used to do this as kids with a larger plywood attached to a row boat with 5 HP OB. Our parents never knew.


Do you thing it would be possible to do this wearing a Brownie (Hookah) dive system?

[Travis McGee]

Originally Posted by Cormorant

Cool. I opened the handholds up a bit with the jigsaw and it's much better. Thanks again.

When will it be warm enough to try it?

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Great videos & thanks for sharing the technology. We used to do this as kids with a larger plywood attached to a row boat with 5 HP OB. Our parents never knew.


Do you thing it would be possible to do this wearing a Brownie (Hookah) dive system?

I too used to do this many years ago, but be VERY careful if you use SCUBA or any compressed air source, be very sure to exhale when coming up and resist the temptation to "broach", you can get some decent vertical speed on a board, enough to sort of jump out of the water a little, and it's this rapid ascent with a lung full of air that will embolize you of course.
I never tried it SCUBA, always felt the extra drag from a tank and harness would be too much, and never had a Hooka until now.
It's just too easy to come up for a breath of air to risk embolism I think.

Amazing thing to me was just how fast idle speed in our old boat was to someone in the water, it's hauling Butt

[frozenhawaiian]

wow, that was very, very cool

[Travis McGee]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I too used to do this many years ago, but be VERY careful if you use SCUBA or any compressed air source, be very sure to exhale when coming up and resist the temptation to "broach", you can get some decent vertical speed on a board, enough to sort of jump out of the water a little, and it's this rapid ascent with a lung full of air that will embolize you of course.
I never tried it SCUBA, always felt the extra drag from a tank and harness would be too much, and never had a Hooka until now.
It's just too easy to come up for a breath of air to risk embolism I think.

Amazing thing to me was just how fast idle speed in our old boat was to someone in the water, it's hauling Butt

VERY GOOD POINT!! I don't see any reason to do this with SCUBA, and rapid ascent (very easy with a dive plane) with compressed air in the lungs can be fatal. With the dive plane, stick with the snorkeling gear if you are searching the bottom. Most of the time, just for fun dive planing, just use a mask, no snorkel or fins needed.

[Nicholson58]

Travis,


Based on your dimensions and the follow up discussions I committed this to CAD today.


How does this look? I liked the idea of using Lexan so I can see through it & I have a ready supply in the junk bin here.

[Travis McGee]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Travis,


Based on your dimensions and the follow up discussions I committed this to CAD today.


How does this look? I liked the idea of using Lexan so I can see through it & I have a ready supply in the junk bin here.

Yes, that will work. The angled rope slot doesn't need to be that wide, but it won't matter. You can play with the balance by moving the towing point (forward edge of the towing hole) and the gripping edge closer together. I think the thumb holes are too close together, that is, they should be directly behind the inner part of the gripping edges, that is, behind where the index fingers will line up.

I took out a provisional patent last year, so that in the event that the videos went viral and demand developed, some plastics company couldn't just scoop me and mass produce them without my involvement. I don't mind folks making their own from plywood or scrap plastic, like I did, that's fine. I'd have a problem if anybody went into mass production for mass sales, though. That's why I took out a provisional patent.

I'm not sure if I'd prefer a clear plastic (Lexan or plexi) board to wood. Seeing through the board isn't important to the diver, because the board is lined up flat in front of his eyes. I like a bright board, like the orange ones, because it allows the support crew on the towing boat to always see where the board and diver are located. Even on brown plywood boards, I put strips of bright yellow electrical tape on the leading edges, to increase their visibility. And given a choice, I think it's better to have a board that would float compared to one that would sink, all considered equal.

But yes, Lexan would work just fine. There would be plenty of strength between the towing hole and the rope slot, an important consideration. The only failures with plywood boards have occurred right there, when I didn't retain enough structural "meat" where the rope is pulling. Some wood cracking failures will occur during high-g maneuvers at that point if there is not enough meat. I doubt this will occur with Lexan given its great strength. Just be aware of it.

[Travis McGee]

The slots on the board in the photo are wider than they need to be. Note how close the tow hole is to the gripping edge: the closer, the better balance for easier acrobatics. You will not have a problem with level flight or surfacing at will, as long as the tow hole is ahead of the hand gripping edges, and there more board area behind the gripping edges, compared to in front of the towing hole.

Use 40 to 75' of 3/8" nylon line. Tie a bowline in the rope slot area. At 2.5 kts, diving is a bit sluggish. At 3 to 3.5 knots, diving and rolling are easy, while it's still easy to hang on. At 4+ knots, it's getting hard to hang on. The best way is to use the autopilot and set the throttle for a steady 3 to 3.5 kts. Usually we can attain this speed under pure sail on a light wind day by rolling up the jib and sailing under main alone on some point of sail.

Work out head and signals in advance, it can be hard to hear one another from boat to board. Faster, slower, pull me in etc. Have at least one crew member keeping an eye on the diver, just like water skiing. Be ready to stop the boat by heading into the wind, putting the engine in neutral, etc. If the diver comes off the board, the board will dive hard, and you can't recover it until you stop the boat. It's easy to pull a diver back to the boat when they are on the surface with the board angled up.

If you have a go-pro, mount it in a front corner at a 45* angle. You will still be able to fly forward and maneuver, even with the board canted 45* for filming ahead or to the side. If you have a pretty girl available, you can mount the camera backwards to film her in flight. Or you can do what I did, and put a towing line, board and diver out from each back corner of your transom. Just be careful not to have collisions, that is, work out your acrobatics in advance, such as a zone of separation. Remember, you can fly 45* out to the sides just like a water skier, so be careful when crossing over into the path of a 2nd diver.

[Travis McGee]

[Travis McGee]

[PPLepew]

Can't wait to try this with my Hooka.

[Travis McGee]

Originally Posted by PPLepew

Can't wait to try this with my Hooka.

How are you going to do it? Keep the rig on the boat? Be careful about fast ascents with compressed air in your lungs. You can ascend from 15' to the surface in about half a second.

[PPLepew]

It's not how deep or how long you are under, just a combination of the two.
This would not be recommended in deep waters. So being down 15-20 feet for a short fun ride is harmless.