Watch out swimmers! Hilsea Lido hosts submarine racing

HUMAN-powered submarines were a new sight at a lido.
The team from The University of Delft in The Netherlands
Picture: Ian Hargreaves (160973-4)The team from The University of Delft in The Netherlands
Picture: Ian Hargreaves (160973-4)
The team from The University of Delft in The Netherlands Picture: Ian Hargreaves (160973-4)

More than 100 students from across the world went to Hilsea Lido to test out their submarine designs in a competition.

The subs were human-powered and had to complete a there-and-back course against the clock.

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Helen Downing-Emms, vice-chairwoman of Hilsea Lido Pool for the People Trust, said it was a fabulous day.

‘There’s been a good turnout,’ she said.

‘Everyone really enjoyed it. Seeing submarines in the water is something new for everyone.

‘The students have designed and built them.

‘They are people-sized so one person gets in and sort of paddles them.’

Students from Spain, the UK, Holland, Germany and the US took part.

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The day was sponsored by Babcock International Group, BMT Defence Service and QinetiQ.

Jeff Owen, a director at Babcock, said: ‘We’re passionate about developing young engineers and these races are an excellent way of raising the awareness of the fact that the marine industry offers tremendous technology and engineering challenges to inspire future engineers.

‘With business activity in the countries of the participating universities we’re delighted to encourage the development of local engineering talent.’

Dr Jon Bayliss, from QinetiQ, said: ‘We are delighted to host, for the third time, the human-powered submarine race. The development of engineering talent in the marine sector is something we support through a variety of events and this particular challenge brings together teams from around the world.’

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