Seabobbing: swimming for the lazy

Hanging out at the beach is always a lot of fun, but swimming in the ocean is, like, really tiring, so when our friends all decide to go in the water, we usually cop-out by making up some lame excuse about a leg cramp. Thanks to a new product on the market called the Seabob, however, we may soon be able to enjoy the surf as much as we enjoy sitting on our towel drinking daiquiris, as the German-engineered device promises to do for swimming what the Segway has done for walking,  Seabob is able to propel its rider along the surface of the water at 12-miles-per-hour, and then dive down to nine feet with only light pressure applied to its controls, although overriding the electronic depth-limiter lets experienced divers cruise as low as 130 feet. Power comes from a 3.6-kilowatt electric motor delivering 570-newtons of thrust, and a handy LCD display keeps you informed of water temperature, diving depth, and the 60-minute battery's remaining capacity. As we learned from Segway, leading a sedentary lifestyle doesn't come cheap, so until they initiate a loan program, don't be surprised if you end up shelling out over ten grand for one of these models after taxes, shipping, etc.

[Via Stuff]

[Frank @ Jun 8th 2006 1:43PM]

all that electrical goodness! sounds like the h2o's carnivores will enjoy the ad for "tasty human snack"! can't sharks sense a battery dropped almost a mile away?

[Se�n @ Jun 8th 2006 2:00PM]

I heard from a guyt in the pub that it was more like a mile and six feet, no seven feet. Tsk.

Speed on water is measured in knots BTW not miles per hour.

[Brauer @ Jun 8th 2006 2:03PM]

Timely article. We are heading to dive in the red sea and are renting one of these so will be keen to find out how well they work.

[Aaron @ Jun 8th 2006 2:04PM]

Can this be spray painted gunmetal grey for running underwater covert ops a la Mission Impossible or The Rock?

[shirizaki @ Jun 8th 2006 2:08PM]

My friend got he heavy duty one of these. Loud above water.

[kinezo @ Jun 8th 2006 2:10PM]

What's the big deal? I've been seeing these things for years .. and much cheaper:

http://www.seadoo.com/en-CA/Watercrafts/2006/Licensing.Products/Category.htm?categoryName=Seascooter

Albeit, maybe not as tech filled with LCD screens and such.

[adrian @ Jun 8th 2006 2:11PM]

But is this a replacement to learn how to swim?

[mark f @ Jun 8th 2006 2:21PM]

this is a big deal. it has a lot of speed on the surface and underwater. I used to own an IVC 2 person SportSub with a top underwater speed of 4 kts, and that was plenty fast unless the water was crystal clear. 12 kts underwater is like driving a Lotus 7 at 100 mph - it feels like 200 mph on a foggy day, since your sight distance underwater is extremely limited. Seabob has the potential to be a real winner. .

[Clint @ Jun 8th 2006 2:24PM]

We use Seadoo's in the park (see link above) but are considering TippmannAquatics. More like a dolphin footpush thrill than holding on. I am trying these soon.

[GaryT @ Jun 8th 2006 2:35PM]

Cool, but what happens if you acidentally let go - do the handles sense there's no grip and automatically stop it before it knocks off some other poor swimmer or surfer?

[Marty Swartz @ Jun 8th 2006 2:53PM]

Good thing there's a depth limiter: a lot of newbie snorklers would otherwise learn that they shouldn't dive down "as far as they can" on one breath. It's best to save some O2 in the tank (lungs) for the trip back up, too!

[NeoteriX @ Jun 8th 2006 3:02PM]

Ah nuts Aaron, you beat me to the "Rock" reference :)

[autocorrelation @ Jun 8th 2006 3:10PM]

They have had these for a couple years here in Canada. Bombardier makes them (see link in on of the above comments), and they are like $350 at Canadian Tire.

[tiuk @ Jun 8th 2006 3:29PM]

GaryT - Considering most (or all?) seadoo-type watercraft have that feature, I'm sure this does too.

[oscarito @ Jun 8th 2006 4:41PM]

damn,I really hope that thing can out swim a shark cause if the sharks starts coming towards you cause he thinks you look like a tasty sea fish then your in trouble

[HTML Help @ Jun 8th 2006 5:27PM]

This speaks volumes about our sedentary lifestyles...

[Wii Fan @ Jun 8th 2006 5:29PM]

That's more than a little ridiculous?

10 grand?

Unless you are a millionaire or an amputee, there's no excuse for this beeping, buzzing mostrosity.

[iPod Cases @ Jun 8th 2006 5:34PM]

I saw a commercial last night for a mini version of this for your kids in the swimming pool. Unfortunately my kids were being loud and I couldn't hear the details! I'd get one if the price was right.

[Stuart @ Jun 8th 2006 6:40PM]

How come every time someone wants to use a different way of getting around they're lazy?? I'm sure fat slobs on boats will be screaming, "Too lazy to swim?" as you drive by...

[james @ Jun 8th 2006 7:54PM]

Not lazy, they just want to see more in the limited time that you're under water.

[LongshotX @ Jun 8th 2006 11:20PM]

What was the point in saying 570 Newtons of Thrust. Most people don't even know what a Newton is. But just in case some people don't know here is the definition:

The newton (symbol: N) is the SI unit of force. It is named after Sir Isaac Newton in recognition of his work on classical mechanics.

A newton is the amount of force required to accelerate a mass of one kilogram at a rate of one meter per second squared. For example, 1N is the force of Earth's gravity on an apple with a mass of about 0.102kg.

[EdZ @ Jun 9th 2006 8:01AM]

I preferred the ones in Thunderball. They had spearguns.

[o0adam0o @ Jun 9th 2006 9:26AM]

This would be perfect for my recon. missions. In for 3.

[Chris @ Jun 9th 2006 1:32PM]

Yeah I'm pretty sure you can get these for $100 less the lcd screen at Canadian Tire...

[Patrick @ Jun 11th 2006 10:52PM]

Good lord, it's powered by LiIon batteries. Don't they have rather alarming characteristics when shorted? Everything else I know of uses plain jane SLA batteries for the simple fact that they all eventually leak into the battery compartment. Yow.

[jay @ Oct 5th 2006 7:56PM]

These things are amamazing...no noise no fuel and super fast, we tried one last week, and now am going to buy one, expensive but if you do the numbers a lot cheaper than a a jet ski and twice as practical, great fun underwater, you travel like a dolphin. make sure you have a go if the chance arises