|
Click here to view this article on the Press Enterprise website
Hemet man has high hopes for watercraft he's designing
By HERBERT ATIENZA
The Press-Enterprise
|
HEMET - About three years ago, Mike Lee started working earnestly on a high-speed watercraft that has been in his mind for almost a decade.
This summer, his work reached a milestone when he tested the craft on a wetland in San Jacinto.
The verdict: It floats.
Now, the 49-year-old Hemet resident is more convinced than ever that he will eventually finish the Cutfinger, a watercraft that he believes will someday cut through rough water and take its driver from Long Beach to the Hawaiian Islands -- a distance of more than 2,200 miles -- in 24 hours.
"I wouldn't have gone this far if I had any reservations that we'd be able to complete it," Lee said.
He said he hopes to raise funds and get support to equip his watercraft with an engine within a year.
|
"We've proven that it does float ... we know absolutely that everything calculates
out," said Lee, a water distributor operator at the Redlands Water District.
Lee sees a time when his Cutfinger watercraft would be ubiquitous in the waters throughout California. The 55-foot all-fiberglass vessel, which weighs 4,200 pounds, uses technology that Lee designed to allow it to cut through choppy water at high speeds. He christened his watercraft Cutfinger after accidentally cutting a finger on machinery.
"Boats aren't made for rough water," he said, explaining that the constant banging of the boat's hull against the waves blunts its efforts to reach high speeds. "There are a lot of boats that can glide through still water, but I wanted to develop a boat that can glide through waves."
Lee said his design could potentially allow the Cutfinger to reach speeds of 70 mph in 20-foot swells by slicing through the waves like a knife. The secret is technology that allows water to be sucked up through both sides of the hull, like a giant water pump, lessening the water's resistance.
Lee said the inspiration for developing the Cutfinger came after a 1987 crash in a motorcycle race in Perris that left his brother, Richard, with a broken neck and partially paralyzed.
"What I wanted to do was invent something that would allow him to continue racing," he said.
He said he drew lessons from the tuna, which can reach high speeds in water as it hunts.
"If a tuna can do 80 mph under water, why can't we do 80 mph?" he asked.
Lee said his idea might have sounded far out, but he's come this far and remains undaunted because of his family and supporters, including his wife, Linda, and a number of volunteers.
One of the believers is Mitch Woods, 48, of Hemet, who has worked with Lee on the watercraft for the past three years.
"This is going to be part of history, in my opinion," he said.
Woods said he could see the Cutfinger technology being used for many things, including military operations, rough-seas rescues and harbor patrol.
Lee said he's now looking into getting Jet Ski motors to install in the Cutfinger.
"Once I get the motor in, it won't take very long to get it going," he said.
