Across the ocean in a pedal-powered submarine - tech - 28 January 2009 - New Scientist

Across the ocean in a pedal-powered submarine - tech - 28 January 2009 - New Scientist

Ciamillo designed a carbon-fibre "tail" for divers, called the Lunocet. Modelled on Fish's CAT scans of dolphin flukes, the Lunocet has a hydrofoil profile, like an underwater wing. "As dolphins move their tails up and down, they create a forward-directed lift," says Fish. This lift becomes thrust, and lots of it: dolphins have been clocked at 54 kilometres per hour. They can turn 80 per cent of their energy into thrust, compared with a paltry 3 per cent or so for unaided human swimmers and about 10 per cent for people wearing ordinary swim fins.
(This article was saved in January, but lost in my cyberspace until now! I wonder how this project is coming along.)