A race in problem solving

The IMarEST's European International Submarine Races (eISR) is back fuelling teams of university students to design, build and race human-powered submarines against the clock

The eISR race director Professor William Megill can’t hide his delight that the races are returning and expects a significant jump in the maturity of the designs and level of readiness this July. When the 2020 eISR was cancelled, most teams were already honing designs in CAD and in simulation, so they’re more than ready. “Some teams had partially completed their hulls, so they’re keen to get them wet in an actual competition," says Megill. "Whatever shows up, it will be an exciting competition!” 

Usually teams design the submarines two years before the biennial race, and build in the year preceding the competition, with the test phase completed a few weeks before the event. Some teams arrive with machines requiring little modification, while others find they pretty much need to completely rebuild a system once it’s been trialled on the course.  

For many of the teams, the biggest challenge is getting over that starting line. “All the work on designing, building, testing, qualifying and launching the submarine means nothing for first twenty metres over the starting line. They’re at low speed and have no pitch or yaw control. That’s where the experience of the pilot comes in - it’s all about air management as he or she accelerates towards the timing gates. The engineers can only watch and bite their nails.” 

Once they’re past those crucial first 20m, the next challenge is the slalom course. “By the fourth day of the competition,” says Megill, “the corners are really tight" with pilots struggling to get their submarines through the gates without snagging them.

“The really good teams find themselves trying to get the last bit of speed out of their machines, either to catch another excellent opponent, or as happened in the world-record attempts, to get that last 0.01 knots out of their propulsion system,” says Megill.  

What does it take to win? Megill says it’s a combination of excellent engineering, high-quality manufacture, fabulous athleticism, and spot-on teamwork. “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!” 

Applying bionics

After two years of restrictions, team captain Frauke Waßmuth is highly appreciative to be spending time with her race team at Rhine Waal and she looks forward to meeting the other teams in July. Studying an MSc in Bionics, Waßmuth says she is interested in applying bionics and that’s why she gathered a team to take part in the race. Her team has a rough, preliminary design and is now concentrating on fine-tuning. “We need to scale the current design to fit our pilot well, to design the exact sizes of transmission parts and fine tune parameters such as the distance between the fins for propulsion.” 

Waßmuth plans to undertake a PhD within bionics and work as a professor or as part of a research group in bionics or bionic applications including robots. “Locomotion of any kind, running, swimming or flying, is a big interest of mine.”

HSRW Rhine Waal team, 2018 (from left to right) Harry Crocker, Sarah Luckardt, Hannes Jaschinski 
(team captain), Leonie Wesener, Liam Megill. 

Learning to let go

Hannes Jaschinski was team captain for the HSRW Rhine Waal team in 2018. Like Waßmuth, Jaschinski was undertaking the MSc Bionics at the time, having completed a degree in Biomimetics, and an apprenticeship as construction mechanic in ship building.

“The experience of piloting a submarine for the first time is something I’ll never forget,” he says nostalgically. The eISR provided a crash course in team leadership for Jaschinski. “As a small team that went to the races with an unfinished submarine, we didn’t get much sleep and were constantly facing new issues and working under a lot of stress. I tended to seize the reins without delegating tasks to the whole team but learned I needed to trust my teammates. Different solutions are also valid solutions.”  

Those two weeks of racing were an incredible team experience for Jaschinski and although the Rivershark didn’t make it to the podium, the team’s second pilot, Sarah Luckhardt, was named Best Female Pilot of the races that year. Jaschinski’s advice to the alumni of 2022? “Enjoy every minute. Your team will become your second family. Enjoy the success you experience with your team. Enjoy meeting interesting people and making new friendships.” 

Race director Professor Megill praises how the eISR continuously captivates the students’ interest in the ocean science. “It’s great to see this community of students grow into successful career scientists and engineers. The race 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,” says Megill. “These eISR alumni are a clear asset to companies that work both above and below the surface.” 

2016 eISR participants and organisers

To learn about sponsorship packages for the eISR – email the Race Committee at [email protected].