Lunoblog

It takes a clear head and an ability to step back to evaluate and learn more about what you are facing to eventualy solve a problem. A lot of us have a tendency to react too rapidly to a situation often making a bad decision. Now this is where Lunosapien philosophy 101 helps. To get the clear head, grab your Lunocet jump in a nearby body of water (bathtub might not be  the ticket) and contemplate for a second how lucky you are to be able to have your entire body functioning properly to swim like a dolphin. Then proceed to pursue the breach. After an hour of waterworks go back to the office and face the day and the economy that goes with it, you will solve problems one after the other.

If only Obama and McCain had a Lunocet…

yours truly,

015~

 

It was only a matter of time, observing nature (somewhat a biomimetic thought) a few people experimented with underwater surfing. I have seen many times dolphins surfing the waves in California sometimes going into a barrel, accelerating full throttle to be in front totally submerged and catch the underwater surf . Time the set, duck down and accelerate to surf. Control is hard at first but like everything it takes time, a good breath hold and practice. Noa’s post about underwater surfing on deeper blue forum  is as good of a description as one could do on the subject, he is in essence a true Lunosapien.

 

Web designer virtuoso Matt D. Smith came to my desk this morning to ask: ” Could you define Hydrotouring in one sentence?”.  I was bugged by the “in one sentence” part of the question as Hydrotour involves such a wide range of activities, from ocean orienteering to auqabatics or just the good ole times and stories that come after a day of roaming the ocean with a pod of friends around a bonfire on the beach.  That intense sense of satisfaction at night when you close your eyes, vivid images of your day come back on your mind’s cinema screen,cruising with a whale shark for an hour after breaching out of the water a couple of times…

“Hey man? you there?” Matt brought me back from dreamworld and after a short moment of silence he said “it sounds like  off-shore backpacking in its simplest form”. I nodded in approbation, “simple is fun” I concluded.

Hydrotouring in one sentence was born.

Until next time check out the new Hydrotouring page on www.lunocet.com! 

cheers,

015~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Sea Otters do not eat PBJ’s! Lunosapiens do.

 

“What happened you guys!?” is a quote from Southpark character Eric Cartman when he opened up the  Lunocet website this morning. Change is inevitable isn’t it? Especially after listening to an interview with GM vice chairman Bob Lutz who do not subscribe to the global warming theory but also happens to be the project manager of the chevy Volt fully electric car. Humm…let me think about that for a sec. As Stephen Colbert mentioned you can still plug in your chevy electric car for a charge into your Hummer cigarette lighter if you do not believe in global warming.

On the other hand our beloved Lunocet has zero emission and at times zero gravity. So what’s with the design change? Instead of two sections for the trailing edge ,we now have one single piece of silicone rubber, we also increased the durometer to have a more rigid piece which translates into more power.

The newly designed “center jet” (the piece that links the footplates and the silicone trailing edge) lower the footplates resistance and makes for better hydrodynamics. Foot pockets now come closer to the end of the toe plate allowing a better power transfer. Faster,better,stronger.

There are more tricks to it than this but I feel some mystery shall remain until we release the new video.

Stay tuned for more!

015~

 

We never saw it coming, too busy to dream about new ways to propel oneself in the liquid world. Both TV and  press want a piece of our world, now the question is how do we communicate our passion to you the reader/viewer? Editing is crucial to communicate the magic surrounding Ciamillo Components, the Lunocet, Zero gravity bike and the Subhuman project. Jules Verne himself would have had a hard time to visualize the complexity of our advanced “dream-technologies-materializing-under-close supervision of CNC machinery” company.  Ted admitted to me last week that not only does he dream of new designs at night but he visualizes his  creations in full 3 D. He then wakes up and operate a direct dream transfer to solid edge (our design software). It is just a matter of time until we can put a USB port on Ted’s head so we can plug him in directly on the CNC.

A good friend of mine and academy award winner documentary filmmaker told me “fantasy is somewhat closer to reality than you think”. I know now for sure as my world is composed of Lunosapiens a cross breed in between man and dolphin, a massive human propelled submarine and a million gallon pond filled with many unique fish. All of this came out of one man’s fantasy world and now is so real that it is hard to portray.

015~

Ancient civilizations like the Philistines and the Babylonians had worshipped fishtailed gods, several stories on underwater creatures half human half fish have survived, manifesting themselves in written parchments or artworks from the Byzantine empire to the Romans. We as “Homo Industrialis” dismiss all these stories as myth and somewhat challenge the intelligence of earlier civilizations for believing in such childish stories. But what if?

We have now freedivers diving to depth to 113 meters (371 ft) holding their breath for over 10 minutes. With the Lunocet we will have humans cruising in open water at speeds only marine mammals could achieve. The breaching is just a matter of time, imagine that day where as you walk on the beach, you watch in the surf a  ”pod” of human playing in the water as a pod of dolphin approach them to invite them into their water games.

We are born in water, 66 percent of our body is composed of water, and our blue planet? 70 percent of it is covered with water (probably more in the decades to come).  In the US alone more than 50 percent of the population live right by the Ocean. We are attracted to it yet we can’t define why. The Lunosapien could really well be the next phase in human evolution. Remarkable books that inspired this reflection on the liquid world are: “Underworld” by Graham Hancock and “Homo Delphinus” by Jacques Mayol.  It is not about finding the right answers but rather asking the right questions.

015~

We are actively working on setting up demo days in the next couple of months, to convince you that the Lunocet is the only way to explore the blue . As we mentioned previously you can try on  a Lunocet at the DEMA pool in Las Vegas October 22nd-25th. Also we will have a Demo in Fort Lauderdale.,FL the first week-end of November. We are looking at New York, Atlanta and Los Angeles as well.

Please keep checking the blog for further info on the demo schedule.

015~

 

No, I am not referring to the brilliant movie directed by Sam Mendes which gave actor Kevin Spacey his second oscar, but rather to the actual beauty America has to offer. I happen to have enjoyed the entire labor day week end riding my motorcycle on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, and after a grand rainstorm that left me rather wet to say the least (where is my wetsuit when I need it?) the sun finally came out and the beauty was there in front of my eyes, materializing in the Mount Pisgah 5,721 feet above mama water. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but the “beholder” happens to be too self absorbed at times, to see it. It is just a matter of feeling miserable in the wet rain driving 15 mph an hour cursing in french (I do this only when I feel powerless) asking whomever is in charge of irrigation on this rock to “please give me a break! this must be the 15th, 15-gallons-bucket that is being poured right over my helmet”.  Note the excessive use of the number 15, a subliminal marketing strategy commonly abused at Ciamillo Components. -015- So where is he Lunocet story in all of this?

Well the Lunocet like my motorcycle is a tool to explore , they both provide speed  to cover some ground and take the time to admire beauty. From mount Pisgah in North Carolina to an oversized brain coral off of Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida it is for you to take the time and seek out the American beauty.

“Allons Voir!”(Let’s go see!)

-Commandant Jacques Yves Cousteau- 

Yours truely,

015~

 

 

More and more inquiries from freedivers, tri athletes and monofin swimmers: “Is the Lunocet more efficient than a traditional monofin?” We of course think that the Lunocet is not only the most beautiful man created underwater piece of equipment but also the best and fastest way to evolve in the underwater world. We understand the cravings of the Luno community for testing and further videos of the Lunosapien in action. Let it be known we are working on it. In the meantime let’s talk about our experience hoping that it will shed some light on the Lunocet performance and behavior in the water.

Hydrofoils mechanics makes the Lunocet quite different from conventional monofin. My friend and world champion freediver Martin Stepanek did try the first prototype (same hydrofoil design used in the production model). His first comment was: “wow this is very different! “To tell you the truth he was having trouble to get a feel for the fin, his monofining technique is close to perfection and yet the Lunocet felt different. As I happen to be a snowboarder who tried once a monoski I like to do the comparison. The Lunocet is the snowboard and the monofin the monoski. Similar concept but a very different technique. The Lunocet requires more knee bending and ankle flexibility to properly activate the hydrofoils. Also from my personal experience, I honestly think that the up stroke or recovery stroke is the power stroke as your feet are pushing on a really rigid material (the aluminum plate . Hence a whole new way to manage the lactic acid build up. 

Coming back from a 30 meters dive I really felt that I was pushing on a race car accelerator, I also remarked that my ankle the next day were sore. But spending four consecutive days in the water about 4  hours in the water a day going up and down and swimming around the Cenotes Azul in Mexico, my feet were fine, compared to the pain I usually get from a traditional mono footpocket. I started paying more attention to stretching my ankle and the soreness eventually faded away.

I might have told you this previously, we are puting together a pro user team composed of professional tri athletes, freedivers and monofin swimmer to get more feedback. If you feel like you have the profile to participate in the pro user Luno team, send us an email via the “contact us” form on  the website.

We are open to criticism, the constructive kind that is!

Pursue the breach!

cheers,

 

015~

 

We are getting the tail end of hurricane Fay,the thunderstorms and strong winds she left behind are creating tornados on the peach side of the country. No lagoon swimming today, time to think about all the different gear that one can use while touring the blue. We secretly dream of a LunoSuunto that would give us surface speed, depth, and heartrate (monitoring the Lunosapien vitals), a waterproof Lunohydropack (with a tiny  desalinization system) from camelback would be nice to maintain hydration. A super bright LED or Xenon headlight for nocturnal reef encounters…

I heard you,yes you there who just said “How about sharks you idiot!?” Well here is food for thoughts I have witnessed a white shark taking off when a dolphin pod showed up. It is  just a matter of organizing a pod of Lunosapiens when water bound: ”Thou shall not venture at night on reef solo” Luno 0:15.

The reef at night, or even the kelp for that matter offer a completely different experience where the palette of colors changes drastically.A cornucopia of marine life comes out , sharks, school of small squids, octopus,lobsters and the bioluminescence are well worth getting over your primal fears.

Bioluminescence is the aurora borealis of the underwater world, as soon as you get enough confidence to turn off your light the movement you create becomes color, it is just fantastic. I am looking forward to see the kind of artwork that the hydrofoils will generate with bioluminescence.  As for now I am stuck in the building but it is just a matter of time  before we head out again. 

015~