I FIRST MET WILL KOHNEN AT THE CAYMANIsland Shipping Registry party during FLIBS 07.There was a logical reason for both of us being therebeyond excellent Mojitos and fine music and food;the Cayman Register is particularly experienced insubmarines – registering and regulating them. The origins of this go back, as John-Kaare Auneexplained at GSF later in 07, to local touristsubmarine operations; the islands’ clear watersprovides an ideal stamping ground for a tourist sub –thus a (rare locally based) Cayman registered vesselneeding something to comply with. SEAmagine’s hull2 and 4 are operating in the Caymans offering one-hour tours in 60 feet of water off seven miles of beachon Grand Cayman Island.

I visited, however, Lorelei, a private, not a tourist sub,and one of a number of water toys (though no toy byany stretch of the imagination) carried by a shadowvessel to a 75-m plus yacht. The yacht owner kindlyallowed us access to the sub, though asked that theidentity of the yacht and shadow vessel be keptconfidential. Lorelei is SEAmagine’s first yacht sub though not by any means their first build. TheSEAmagine Hydrospace Corporation was founded by the Kohnen brothers (why does that make methink of ’Fargo’?) in 1995 with the specific aim ofdesigning and building two- and three-man subs for avariety of purposes; tourism, recreation, archaeology,filming and private use. Will comes from anaerospace background where he worked on theHubble Space Telescope, Space Station, SOHO,Cassini and others. Charles was from an offshoresupply and exploration background with companieslike Schlumberger.

SEAmagine carries out all design work in house aswell as assembling and sea-trialling the subs at itsCalifornian facility. Before commencing they soughtand, in 2000, gained ABS and USCG approvals andit’s very clear in conversation with Will and Charlesthat a highly regulated approach to both the designand construction is key and extends into the intense,extensive training they mandate for aspiringsubmarine pilots. Testing is carried out by third-party specialist facilities like the Naval FacilitiesEngineering Service Centre/Deep Ocean SimulationLaboratory. By the time they delivered hull 7 to theshadow vessel they had achieved approvals from

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going down

We don’t all scuba dive – for some that’s through choice, forothers it’s a health or confidence issue. Yet the undersea world iseternally fascinating, arguably the strongest raisons d’etre forcruising. A yacht- embarked sub makes that world accessible toall and also offers an exploratory capability beyond scuba depthsfor the adventurous owner. In 2007 we printed our first ShipReport; here then is our first Sub Report – a detailed look at ayacht sub, its design, operation, pilot training and my first sub divetoo. The yacht sub proved to be simultaneously much better,much more complex and much less costly that one might imagineas I go down (a tad less than 20,000 leagues) in Barcelona.

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Cayman Island Shipping Registry, Turkish MarineSafety Authority, West Australia Port Authority andthe Costa Rica Marine Protection Agency. All subsare A1+ ABS classed and have more than 7,000 diveslogged across the fleet. They have published a guidefor superyacht owners and operators which – thoughclearly a sales tool – does contain very sound adviceto those wishing to get beneath the waves and clearlybelies the bundling of subs with othertoys carried on superyachts. This guideis available as a Synfo Extra.

One key factor is that ideally the owner, or at aminimum a representative, should – pre contract –take a dive in one of the subs they have supplied.This ensures they have a clear idea of what a sub can(and can’t) do. I’d have to say after my dive it’s alsothe quintessential sales tool; I’d defy anyone whowas in the market for a sub not to buy one after atest dive! Will’s comment: “Usually we try and getsomebody to take a dive…don’t buy a submarine onpaper or graphics. Just see that this is really whatyou’re going to want to do.” They have subs availableat their owner’s discretion in Australia, Costa Rica,Turkey, Grand Cayman and California.

The VesselWhat is Lorelei and how does shework? Well, first she is not asubmarine, rather a submersible. Asubmarine is wholly autonomous wherea submersible is the underwater part ofa team effort – always with the surfacevessel, all of which will be covered ingreater depth during a description ofoperation and training. The sub is aone-atmosphere type; the interiorpressure is as at the surface and thetwo people inside the acrylic bubblestay dry and feel in all respects (saveawe) as though they were in a nicelyair-conditioned area at sea level. In facttwo persons is a slight misnomer; theremay be a third on this sub; at anexterior driving position aft of thebubble.

The Lorelei will often be operated inthis mode with two passengers insideand a diver/pilot driving and indeedcommentating via underwater commsfitted to a full-face dive helmet. Thepilot can allow the guests some controlof the sub, yet override them at any

time they over-cook things a bit. Obviously thisdoesn’t work at 300 feet but higher in the watercolumn for shallow reef dives – very much thenatural and prettiest environment for this sub – and with enough trained pilots the bottom timeissue is minimal. For deep or exploration dives thepilot rides inside with one passenger.

Buoyancy and ballast are partially inherent andfixed. However, raising the sub to her full 30-inchplus freeboard on the surface is done by inflatingtwo long sponsons contained within the metallictubes to port and starboard. This inflation is by divetanks carried aboard; these are replenished aftereach dive. Deflation is by external water pressure.This (along with pilot/scuba ops) requires a tankfilling station on the shadow vessel. With these fullydeflated (the first step of a descent) the sub is stillslightly positive and must always be pushed down –a kind of underwater helicopter. Will says, “It’sbasically a hydro copter – you’re really flying, exceptthere’s no pitch, there’s no roll; it’s not an acrobaticmachine.” To stay slightly positive the sub isballasted with lead shot dive weight bags, mandatingthe always potentially embarrassing question that

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small plane pilots and now submersible ones toomust ask: how much do you weigh? Max payloadis 500 lb in the sphere. The redundant buoyancysytem is patented by SEAmagine and confersconsiderable advantage; Will explained that ifthis were a ballast tank you add resistance (herethe bladder is flattened completely when empty)and you would need a big (power hungry) pumpto pump out water.

Propulsion is electric as (mostly) is Lorlelei’sundersea version of avionics (lets call them sub-ionics). The former is 108 VDC, motors are 3phase brushless, 1.5 hp, 16-inch diameter, ductedand the sub-ionics are 24 VDC. The powersource is one centre line bank of batteries. Thereis also a soft internal ballast blast tank called aBCD (buoyancy control device) for trimming thesub; usually slightly nose down again like a Helo.The batteries will provide a day’s cruising and are recharged in about five to six hours (at 80%discharge). The Cayman tourist subs manage 10 dives per day.

There is one vertical and two slightly toed-inhorizontal thrusters. The pilot flies the sub byjoystick; the software balances thrust percentageto achieve rotation or direction change – a buttonatop does not fire torpedoes, rather operates the‘down thrust’ to keep you where you want. Themajority of electronics are inside the dome behindthe seating.

This Ocean Pearl model is equipped with externaloxygen tanks used for the cabin’s life support system.The two 120-ft3 oxygen tanks on each side of thevessel provide the cabin six hours of life support andadditionally 72 hours of reserve life support. Thereare two CO2 scrubbers and the O2 delivery system isalso redundant. I was amazed at how far they wentwith the oxygen tanks; Mick, the pilot and first mate,explained: “We’re still going on the same tanks thatwe started training with after 13 days of diving …We’re going to carry probably 12 months’ worth, fordiving on board at any one time.” This means thatthe O2 is not produced aboard, rather refilled by a gas supplier while cruising. Given the bottles arecertified for oxygen, getting O2 wherever there is ahospital and by implication a nearby gas suppliershould be easy.

The sub-ionics include monitoring of the internalenvironment, voltages and also include a forwardlooking sonar; a kind of underwater radar. The sub

also telemeters data to the surface craft USBL (Ultra Short Base Line Transponder). This sends anacoustic ping to the surface transceiver on the RIB,so Topside can locate the submersible at all times.The sub may have a Doppler log to read fwd speedalong with compasses. There are two comms systems:an underwater 33 KHz SSB one and a marine VHFfor the surface phase of a dive. Additionally there is apull-out keyboard and upside-down track pad belowthe instrument nacelle that can be used to send textmessages. In the unlikely event of a problem aboardthis is the best way to inform Topside of the problemwithout disturbing the passenger – one panicking ina smallish dome might be rather hazardous.

Performance doesn’t sound blistering: 2 knotsapproximately on surface or below. However, as Will said, “People don’t realise how fast 2 knots is;typically if you’re looking for something, 0.7 to 0.8 knots is fast.” Lorelei’s also got 3.2 tons (pluspassengers) of inertia, which in part defines a needfor the bar cage around the dome.

The base model is amazingly economical at aboutUS$1.2 million, including ABS Classification; however,

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Will explained the stage of training: “Ourthree pilots have all had six dives. So they’regoing through the very basic sequence of just getting adjusted and preparing thesubmarine, taking it to the dive site, goingdown, adjusting buoyancy, and navigating in close proximity. The low visibility we havewithout any topographical reference makes it a little more creative.” The pilots are Mick,Russ and Sara. Sara will, I imagine, be thefirst qualified female yachting sub pilotthough not the first sub pilot; Will told methat of 48 pilots trained, to date three arewomen. It was very clear that the crew werereally into their training and justifiably proud of their newly gained skills; if a littleapprehensive perhaps of the additionalworkload Sub Ops might add as it was clearthat there is a lot of crew work in a day’sdiving. They kindly gave up one dive for meto have a jolly under the bay for ten minutes– of which more later. Of course a sub, likeany shipboard activity over 500 gt, has to be integrated into ISM, as do its uniqueoperational parameters. Even the storage ofoxygen – a hazardous material - will requirespecial SMS provisions. Again the partialtraining of non-pilot crew also helps inintegrating Sub Ops.

OperationThe shadow vessel was on the dock; althoughat anchor the procedure would be the same.First a pre-launch checklist was verified, thenusing a four-point hoist on an industrialknuckle boom crane the sub was launched.Like aviation every aspect of sub ops has achecklist. Sub Ops inherently needs less of a yacht-type flexibility; Mick commented thatSub Ops are ideally suited to the rigidity ofalways checklisted tasks. Once launched thesub was not, as I had expected, towed to thedive site; Sara jumped aboard and with feetdry drove Lorelei out into the bay from theaft external driving position. Of course thiscould be done with two passengers on boardor they could be picked up from the yacht orferried to the dive site where there will be aninflatable boarding dock.

Once near the site and alongside the surfacesupport vessel (a RIB in this case) final checks

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there are a number of options includingcameras, lights, a pan/tilt system and even amanipulator arm. This would obviously boostthe base cost. I created a wish-list-based, fully loaded sub. This, without trainingmaintenance, added 460 K to the price.Training and annual maintenance costs too must be factored in, as must insurance and financial impact on ISM and crewcomplements – again analogous to Helo Ops.

Additionally, as will be described in the Opssection, consideration must be given to thepotential need to purchase a rescue system.The design of the sub is weight conscious; akey concept to allow retrofit on large yachtswhich may anyway have 3 tonnes plus cranes.The capacity to easily board the sub whenfloating high also means the crane need neverbe man-rated, nor used more than twice a dayto launch in the morning and retrieve at theday’s end. Lorelei is a big girl; at 15 feet 2inches long with a width of 8 feet 5 inches,and 7 feet 10 inches tall.

TrainingI visited the sub in Barcelona, not the first orideal choice for training since visibility waspretty awful; even if it had been perfect therewas little to see anyway. But unfortunately amechanical issue with the shadow vessel hadcaused her to be there for maintenance; soBarcelona it was. It must be said it’s an illwind that blows nobody any good and thelow viz provided very good training in spatialawareness. Training had been under way forfour weeks and – in normal conditions – thetotal period would’ve been five weeks.

They started with basic stuff for eight of theshadow yacht’s crew, with three finishing thecomplete course to become pilots. The fivewho did not go all the way have gained a goodgrounding in sub ops that will aid them inlooking after Lorelei and understanding thepilot’s job. Also some of them will progress topilot long term. The more pilots aboard thebetter, given leave needs and possible rotationissues. In this operation pilots are part of theyacht crew; an alternative (as for many HeloOps) is to have completely independent pilotssolely for Sub Ops.

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are made and weight added or subtracted. The pilotboards and makes his ’cockpit’ checks then thepassenger boards. They then motor to a buoy prior tobeginning the descent. Now they are on VHF commsand under the authority of the surface support crewwhich comprises one controller and a spare pilot.The sub pilot only takes charge once descent beginsand comms switch to underwater mode. Through-dive the surface support checks on-board status with the pilot. You can seea video of the whole dive (along withextensive other documentation anddiagrams) on synfo as an extra.

A typical check sounds like this:“Topside, topside, and Loreleiwe’re at 29 metres and I’ll sendyou some vitals. We’ve gotoxygen at 20.8, we’ve got CO2 at.183, temperature at 20 Celsius,humidity 75, altimeter at –200,and all systems are good.”Topside contacts the sub andprompts for data at regularintervals; the pilot is occupiedwith both piloting and being atour guide making suchreminders important duringpassenger dives. Because of thelow visibility at the traininglocation, pilots were trained,rather like a scuba diver, tomake ascents and descentsfollowing a line from the buoy to the bottom. Onceback on the surface the sub motors back to the RIB. In our case driver and trainee changeover, bottles are swopped out and weight adjusted,then the next dive commences.

If it goes wrong, flag and class have very strict rulesas to endurance and redundancy. However, eventhough one may be comfortable and safe for 72 hoursif the sub is disabled or – more likely entangled–something must be done to free and raise it. In a shallow dive scenario and if there was no eternaldriver, the spare Topside pilot can dive to help. On an exploratory dive to maybe 300 feet this isproblematic requiring potentially mixed gas/decompression diving. Here one potential solution is a small ROV equipped with cutting devices or totie a lift line to the sub. Another possibility to raise a downed sub is to rate a crane on board to lift it,though that may still mean a person or machine mustgo down and attach a line.

I have never been in a submersible before and I must say it was an indescribably thrilling activity: and remember this was in a cloudy harbour withnothing to see but the descent line. One wouldimagine that anyone who is claustrophobic might bediscombobulated by the experience. In fact on thesurface with the ’lid down they might; and as youpass the water plane anyone’s heart flutters a little.But, once submerged, those with the oppositecondition – agoraphobia – might be more likely totwitch. Why? The refractive index of the acrylicdome exactly matches that of sea water and the

illusion is of there being no glass at all – floating in inner space.

It’s an experience of such a different nature fromscuba that it is not comparable. It’s not an either/or,though for non divers it may be. The visualexperience is also Helo-like at least a Helo with abubble canopy. One has 230o horizontal views and canlook almost straight down too. Had I been a potentialclient I’d have signed before we even finished thedescent. What diving will be like in the cruising areasthe crew hope to get to – Pacific, Great barrier reefand more – I can only imagine but if someone wantsto fly me there to find out, I stand by ready!

The submersible is set to be the ultimate feature onthe superyacht that thought it had everything andone – despite the extensive work and proceduresinvolved – that will be well worth every cent invested.Tork BuckleyPhotos: Tork Buckley

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