One of the appeals of paddlesports isn't just being able to look out across the water, it's being able to look down below its surface. With that fact in mind, an inventor has created an underwater lamp that allows him to observe the seabed while paddleboarding at night.
Jure Korber is a mechanical/electrical engineer, software developer and product developer from Celje, Slovenia. He's also an avid stand-up paddleboarder.
"I wanted to go stand-up paddling at night, when the sea is calm and the air is cooler, but I wanted to actually see the underwater world," he tells us. "Most SUP lights are small safety or decorative lights. I wanted to build something very different: a serious underwater exploration light that turns a paddleboard into a quiet platform for observing the seabed at night."
The resulting 3-kg (6.6-lb) prototype features a hydrodynamic CNC-machined aluminum body; a custom 3D-printed enclosure for the electronics; a separate hardwired 12s18p lithium-ion battery; and a total of 36 LEDs.
Those lights are divided into six rows of six, which can in turn be wirelessly controlled via a smartphone app as three independent zones: Downward Illumination, Forward Illumination, and Wide Ambient Illumination. The intensity of the illumination can also be adjusted from 0 to 100%, maxing out at a whopping (approximate) 90,000 lumens.
"In clear Adriatic water, the prototype can illuminate the bottom down to roughly 20 to 25 meters [66 to 82 ft]," Korber says.
The lamp attaches to the underside of the board via two straps that are looped up around the deck. Jure tells us that it creates very little drag, although he does tend to go slowly anyways while using it, as he's taking his time to observe the seabed. He even plans on adding a GoPro or other underwater camera for recording what he sees.
The device's aluminum body acts as a heat sink, drawing heat out into the surrounding water where it's dispersed. It is worth noting that the deck-mounted waterproof battery – which is reportedly good for about 3.5 hours of runtime at 100% output per charge – adds another 10 kg (22 lb) to the mix.
Although the lamp was initially made as a one-off, Korber is now considering building a limited run of less powerful (and thus less costly) units, due to the considerable amount of interest his invention has garnered. Whatever he does end up doing, he's definitely happy with how his project turned out.
"The first proper sea tests completely changed the feeling of night paddling," he tells us. "Without sunlight reflecting from the surface, the seabed often looked clearer than during the day. In five meters [16 ft] of water, it sometimes felt as if the board was floating over a shallow lagoon."
