EDM Studio Inc.

In the fall of 1999, EDM Studio partners Andrew and Darran Edmundson, along with Danish friend Ole Nielsen would spend most weekends scuba diving on Australia's Eurobodalla coast. And with the Millennium celebrations fast approaching, this group of three scuba enthusiasts embarked on a bizarre quest - to create a submerged air bubble capable of hosting a New Year's Eve party.

Over a month of weekends, the divers succeeded in drilling and embedding 16 stainless steel anchor bolts in a circular pattern on the ocean bottom. The bolts were designed to anchor a massive 3 meter diameter PVC "bubble", an underwater parachute that, when filled with air, would displace over 6000 kg of water creating a chamber for hosting the midnight festivities. Tests were carried out demonstrating that each bolt could sustain over 2000 kg of upwards lift, well beyond the expected load.

Of course the foundation was just one of the many obstacles. There was concern about maintaining sufficient oxygen levels in the bubble while preventing the build-up of expired CO2. The former problem was to be solved with slow but constant refreshment from 100% medical O2 tanks, the latter by scrubbing the atmosphere using the same materials utilized in underwater rebreathers. As a further safety check, gases could be monitored in real-time thanks to Drager Australia's loan of a gas meter.

The bubble itself was glued and heat welded from a number of custom-cut sections of 1.5 mm clear PVC at Ocean XXX in Sydney. Reenforcement material was added along the rim along with a venting valve near the bubble apex. The entire dome would be held down with 4WD towing straps rising from the anchor bolts, passed through guiding loops on the bubble to meet at a central steel ring.

Two days before New Years, everything was finally ready to go ... with one exception, the mad rush for the finish hadn't left time for a full-scale test. It would come down to the day to see if the bubble would successfully inflate. Worse still, the ocean conditions which had been rough all week were now rapidly deteriorating; the normally sheltered dive spot was copping a beating - to the point that surfers were catching the nearby (but seldom-ridable) "guillotine".

On New Years Eve day, beautiful blue skies were overhead but the ocean continued to build in intensity. Scuba diving was more akin to 30 minutes in a washing machine than the normal astronaut-like floating over the reef below. The divers diligently hauled gear out to the bubble site, all the while knowing that it couldn't possibly be inflated under such conditions. The Sydney Morning Herald sent a reporter and underwater photographer down to interview the crew for the next morning's Millennium edition.

It would be wonderful to write that the swell dropped off, the bubble was inflated and the divers partied into midnight 1999 under the waves. Such though is not the case. The swell continued through Boxing Day and the bubble was damaged in the process. Exhausted after spending more than a day of the previous month underwater, the divers gathered their gear and returned home to face the "I told you so" crowd.

Lessons learned:

Everything is harder underwater.
Good solutions are achieved by iteration. Don't expect your first attempt to be successful, let alone optimal.
A corollary is that one needs to factor in sufficient time for testing. Ideas are infinite, deadlines seem to approach with exponential ferocity.
Ensure that you can solve the big problems. In extreme programming terms, these are known as "spike solutions", the tough technical or design problems that can stop a project dead in its tracks.