Marine

Nautboard gets you swimming underwater like a dolphin

Nautboard gets you swimming underwater like a dolphin
With the help of a tow vessel, the Nautboard makes it easier to swim with a dolphin-like motion
With the help of a tow vessel, the Nautboard makes it easier to swim with a dolphin-like motion
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Ready for naut
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Ready for naut
The shape of the Nautboard is designed to propel the user up and down through the water
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The shape of the Nautboard is designed to propel the user up and down through the water
The Nautboard has two side handles
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The Nautboard has two side handles
The Nautboard in action
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The Nautboard in action
The Nautboard in action
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The Nautboard in action
The tow craft should drive at speeds between 2 and 5 knots
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The tow craft should drive at speeds between 2 and 5 knots
With the help of a tow vessel, the Nautboard makes it easier to swim with a dolphin-like motion
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With the help of a tow vessel, the Nautboard makes it easier to swim with a dolphin-like motion
The Nautboard is designed to dive to depths of more than 23 ft
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The Nautboard is designed to dive to depths of more than 23 ft
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No matter how good a swimmer you consider yourself, you'll never have the fluid, natural grace of a dolphin. The Nautboard from Aquanaut International claims to close the gap, allowing you to swoop smoothly up and down underwater like a true creature of the sea. All it takes is a tow vessel and some rope.

When we covered the Subwing several years ago, a common complaint was that it was too expensive. The Nautboard is similar in intent but uses a much simpler, cheaper design. In place of the expensive fiberglass/carbon fiber, dual-wing construction of the Subwing, the Nautboard uses a single piece of polypropylene that is described as "unbreakable."

Nautboard use appears as simple as its design. The board requires a tow watercraft being driven at 2 to 5 knots (3.7 to 9.3 km/h). The rider is towed behind on 30 to 100 ft (9 to 30 m) of rope, holding onto the dual side handles. He or she simply tilts the gull-wing-shaped board – up to go up, down to dive – gliding beneath the water surface at depths of over 23 ft (7 m). The faster the tow boat goes, the more extreme the "dolphin" effect is, allowing for sharp dives and acrobatic tricks. If the rider lets go of the Nautboard, it's designed to float back to the top.

The Nautboard is available worldwide for a retail price of US$129.99. Single units can be purchased through eBay.

Unfortunately, Aquanaut doesn't have any HD videos on its website, so we're stuck sharing this rather grainy footage of the board in the water.

Source: Nautboard via NauticExpo

View gallery - 8 images
7 comments
7 comments
christopher
Bad design. Forcing both hands on the board makes it impossible to equalize - I can imagine plenty of ruptured eardrums coming out of this...
Ian Mitko
over 23 feet under water at 5 knots? Ouch.
windykites
I got a little board with that video. it still seems expensive for a piece of polypropylene.
Jay Finke
Wow. that looks like a lot of space that's going to take up on my boat, the sea sled is a tad bit more compact, and has been around for years.. http://www.diversdirect.com/scuba-diving/sea-scanner-lobstering-sled/
Bob
If it was a little smaller and a little cheaper, I would be tempted to try one. How quickly does this fatigue your hands? I was wondering how hard it would be to have a built in line retractor. Tangled tow ropes always are the biggest hassle with water toys.
Mike Akulov
B.S. claim to sell piece of plastic for $140. To feel like a dolphin one must be at least 1/10th fit as dolphin to send undulation from tip of his nose (or for a human: from finger tips of stretched forward arms) to end of his fluke (for human: to end of his monofin). See apnea swim with monofin many posting in YouTube.
Ed
Notice how all the women in the video are wearing one-piece suits? Yeah...feel your bikini bottoms fly off of your body! And $140 for a piece of plastic I can make from junk at a home-depot? Not likely!