Hosted by QinetiQ and the IMarEST, the grand slalom of human-powered submarine racing returns to Gosport, UK, 4-15 July 2022
Around the world, teams of students are preparing human powered submarines for the return of the European International Submarine Races (eISR). This year’s competition, hosted by QinetiQ, is in alignment with the UN Ocean Decade with a new award for the best vision for the decade.
Organised by the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST), the races form part of the Institute’s work to promote the marine sector, support young people and demonstrate to the world that engineering is fun. The unique sporting challenge involves teams of university students using their design and technical skills to invent, build, and race human-powered submarines against the clock on an underwater slalom course.
Race director Professor Megill says of the eISR: “It’s a fantastic competition that encourages and creates a community of students who grow into successful career scientists and engineers. The challenge produces well-trained underwater engineers who know how to keep the water out of their machines and have learned how to work as a team under pressure.”
This year will see the teams who were preparing their submarines for the postponed 2020 race finally compete. The postponement, due to the COVID 19 pandemic, has given students extra time to work on their designs, Megill explains: “When we had to cancel in 2020, most teams were already honing designs in CAD and in simulation, some had partially completed their hulls, so they’re more than ready and keen to get them wet in an actual competition.”
As well as daily race winners, there are a total of seventeen awards to compete for, including among others, Best Design Report, Most Unusual Design, Most Dramatic Event, Best Non-Propellor, plus awards for perseverance, exploration, reliability, and individual awards for speed.
For those looking to win, Megill says: “The winning teams manufacture their machine to the highest standards, then tune it to the athlete doing the piloting. When they get to the races, they’re organised, with each team member well-trained in their role, and they have the flexibility in the team structure to adapt to the challenges that inevitably appear during the course of the race. Speed is definitely a key factor, but so is control. A fast sub that gets lost or brings the slalom gates with it to the finishing line is not going to do well overall!”
Full details can be found at: www.subrace.eu.
