Jeff's Seaview returned after a long absence.
Been in drydock for a long time.
But today, this boat ran continuously for a couple of hours.
Did a couple of breeches with the bow coming up out of the water. (that I saw)
I also witnessed a deep dive which the Seaview planted it's bow in to the lake bottom sand.
An immediate surfacing showed no damage.
The Seaview ran surfaced and periscope depth.
What a good day.

Will's Skipjack ran well as it usually does.
But today, his Skipjack wanted to be a seaweed collector.
Several times having to be rescued because of weeds around the propeller shaft.
Will has a recovery system that he deploys rather well.
Looks like he has had lots of practice.
This boat runs extremely well when not in the weeds.
He can dive the boat to periscope depth and run there for hours.

Will did had a major failure.
He pulled his Skipjack out of the water and was in the process of getting his Walrus ready when he noticed a crack int he WTC under a brass band that keeps the cylinder in place.
After further inspection, the boat was done for the day.

I ran my Skipjack for about an hour.
It appears I have finally found all the little air leaks.
I ran on the surface. I did static dives to the bottom at about 4' to 5'.
I ran at periscope depth for more than half the time.

Then it was time to run the Akula II.
I did have to make 2 or 3 emergency surfacing maneuvers.
I lost sight of the boat as the periscope went under.
I did a little stern plane controlling and I still didn't get back up to periscope depth.
After a few seconds that seemed like long minutes, it was time to empty the ballast tank to decks a wash.
Boat popped up about 40' from where I expected it to surface.
Then an all back emergency was in order because my boat was bearing down on the beach. (concrete lake edging)

One other time when the boat was ordered to surface due to being lost, it came up headed straight across the lake.
It was out there about 200' or more.
I put in left rudder and panic started to set in.
Then I remembered that I needed to get the upper rudder below the surface to get any real turning going.
Put water in the ballast tank to half the sail out of the water.
The boat began it's turn.
Nerves began to calm down at this point.

Other than loosing sight of the boats and having them come up nowhere near where I thought they should be, I had a good day.

Mike Dory had his Akula II with him.
He puts his boat in the water and runs it all over the place.
Static dives, periscope depth, a foot under the surface.
He even bottoms his boat and goes and has his lunch then comes back and continues with his patrol.
I would guess Mike's boat is in the water almost 3 hours.

John was there with his white wooden submarine which appeared to be running great.
He also brought a Viking ship with I think, 12 or 14 oars.
I was fun to watch this boat rowing around the lake but then a breeze came up and kept pushing this boat sideways and the oars could not over come the wind.
He did get the boat back to shore safely.

Neill Schmidt's Delta ran very well and I am seriously jealous of his boat's turning radius.
His Delta can turn 180 degrees in about 3'.

I did not get photos of John's boats.
I only got one in the water photo of Mike's boat.
The rest, I did get sitting on the tables.
Ralph
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From Jeff

Here’s my coda, from the good news/bad news dept.:

The Good News: I found my lost Seaview periscope! It had somehow pushed its way down through the inside of the sail so I discovered it rattling around inside the hull. Thanks to all those who optimistically helped me look for it pondside.

The Bad News: Once I got Seaview home I found significant water in her WTC—first leak (Big Dave RCABS tube, remember?) in her seven-year post-build history. Now I have to take her all apart again, put the sealed tube in the tub, and look for bubbles. Back into dry dock she goes...

Later,
Jeff