$8-million deal
for NV company

A NORTH Vancouver company has
developed a remotely operated vehi-
cle designed to rescue crew members
stranded in disabled submarines.

By Auna Marie D ‘Angelo
News Reporter

Hard Suits Inc. held sea trials of
Remora, the submarine rescue system, op
Friday in Indian Arm near Deep Cave.

“Basically before. this, only the
Americans and the Russians had a method
of trying to rescue crew members of dis-
abled submarines.” said. Hard Suits: Inc.

- spokesman John Proust.

‘Hard Suits won an $8-million contract to
design and build a ‘submarine crew rescue
system for the Royal Australian Navy.

About five months after winning the
contract, Hard Suits Ine, has completed the
Remora. It will be shipped to Australia in

* December,
The rescue vehicle can rescue nine sea-

men at atime. The Remora is capable of

attaching to a disabled submarine at angles
up to 60°.
Proust said thatthe Anverican and
“Russian submarine rescue systems are lin
ited in that they can only retrieve a disabled

submarine if itis lying flat onthe bottom of
the ocean with the escape hatch pointing up.

“When a submarine is at great depths,
the crew cannot escape to the surface
because. the physiological effects will kill
. them,” said Proust.

He said that crew members stranded in
powerless submarines die either from
asphyxiation after life support runs out in
the vessel or from physiological complica-

tions after “free ascending” to the surface. :

Without .a “decompression chamber
available, they can also die from the bends
after reaching the water's surface, :

Proust said pressure in a disabled sub-
marine is usually increased: artificially to
* prevent the hull from being crushed while it
is stranded in deep water. Any rescue device
must take that change in air pressure into
account.

“Our systent allows us to alter (he pres-
sure within our pressure chamber to match
whatever it-is in the’ submarine so crew

members won't get-the bends.” said Proust. ;

* He said the Australian navy was inter-
ested in having a submarine rescue system
‘following navy accidents in’ which /navy

personnel were killed, Family. members of

those Killed in the accidents successfully
sued the navy. i

“Ht ended up that it was found there was
liability on the navy's part... The navy has
to be seen to do everything to protect its

_ men.” said Proust.

Proust said the Australian navy is build-
ing a new flect of about four to eight sub-
marines, which will cost approximately
$3.6 billion.

Proust. said American, Canadian and

British navy officials will be present for
deep-water trials of the Remora this week in
B.C’'s Jervis Inlet.

“There are over 100 countries in the
world which have submarines. With the
exception of the Russians and Ainericans in
a limited capacity. none of them have the
ability to rescue their crews,” said Proust,

~The. Remora. is designed to work on
nitclear- and non- auclear-powered sub-
marines.

Proust said a submarine becomes dis-
abled when its propulsion system doesn’t
work and i€ settles to the bottom of the
ocean, The reasons for a malfunctioning
propulsion systend range from: equipment
failure in peace time to torpedo damage in.
war,

“Hard Suits’ Inc. the parent company of
North Vancouver-based Can- Dive and
International Hard: Suits. is also: a‘ world
leader ‘in atmospheric diving technology.

Wednes Sday, November 15, 1995 ~ North Shore News - 3

NAR gpl

A day to remember

fiEWws photo Braud Ledwidge :

WAR VETERANS gzthered Saturday on the North Shore to remember those who gave their lives in battle. Many attended a
Remembrance Day ceremony held at North Vancouver City’s Victoria Park cenotaph.

Construction guidelines planned for Lower Caulfeild

WEST. VANCOUVER could be break-
ing new ground if it proceeds with a
plan to use guidelines instead of “num-
bers” to preserve the character of Lower
Caulfeild.

The? idea | of implementing. conservation
urea designation with subjective guidelines,
covering | areas such as the choice of building
materials and consideration. of natural land-
scape. is so fresh that there are no close exam
ples to took at...

The municipality's zoning and develop-
ment planner Laura Lee Richard explained to
a public information mecting earlier this -
month that the provincial legishuion allowing
such designation occurred just last year.

“monster”
Vancouver:

in.
Laid out by
Francis

WEST VANCOUVER
DISTRICT COUNCIL

By Maureen Curtis

those lucky enough to live-in a quiet neighbor-
hood with narruw winding roads and lush
jandscaping contemplated photographs of
houses built: elsewhere in West

“Anyone who owns property in Lower
Caulfeild feels threatened by the monster (hat
might arrive next door, at any time,”

West
Caulfeild to mimic old country ambi-

dent John Lenic. ;

Earlier attempts at neighborhood preserva-
tion failed because people were. concerned
they would lose the ability to subdivide, reno-

vate or otherwise enjoy the use of their. prop-
erties.

Richard assured residents that conservation
designation will not diminish such property
rights. ;

Others, however, were worried that this
method would not go far enough to stop the
monsters,

“You can't stop a 7.000 square foot house,
but you.can control how it looks.” said Day.

A large house that is well designed has less >
impact on an area than one that is insensitive-
ly situated and built, he argued. ,

Conservation designation will © “guide -

said one

Vancouver pioneer

Stalf and ‘residents of the quaint Caulfeild
enclave have been frustrated in their search for
ways to preserve neighborhood character.

The latest scheme was enthusiastically
received by most of the residents who attend.
edt public meeting at St. Francis in the Wood

chee, many of the lots in Lower Caulfeild are

large. with houses dat cover, just 10-20% of

the land.

Under current legislation, these houses
could be replaced with 7,000 to 10,000 square
foot structures that would: fall within bykiw

change.” rather than restrict an owner ofa.
Lower Caulfeild home from making alter-
ations.

Tt will not protect views. but will ensure
that development choices that could preserve

sipulations, |

with planning staff and West Vancouver Coun,
“We don't

Rad Day.
‘There was a hint of desperation in the air us

want

amy
would destroy our ncighborhood.”

views are looked at.
monsters, They

said resi- See Building page 4

$250,000 slide repair work needed

From page 1

Capilano watershed is actually less turbid than the Seymour source.
On Tuesday morning the Seymour water showed a turbidity reading of

13.9 NTUs (Nephelometric Turbidity Units), with Capitano water at {2 NTUs.
Water planning administrator Tom Heath said the water district likely
won'Uswitch to the Capilano system scon because district officials suspect
the Capilano will get more turbid as more rain falls.
Five NTUs is the federal standard for consumption, said Welman. But
increased chlorinization has made the water safe to drink, she added.
North Shore medical health officer Dr. Brian O'Connor agreed. The
brown-tinged water may not be palatable, but it is potable, he said.
Welman said the Seymour reservoir's NTU numbers have fluctuated
between cight and 14 since a major slide occurred in that watershed Nov, 8
or Nov. 9.

Welnan ‘said the stide occurred on an extrenicly steep. inaccessible

slope. A 500-metre-long (1,650-foot-long) slide piled up debris at the bot-”

tom of a chute.
Welman believes water built up behind the debris. Approximately 300
millimetres (12 inches) of rain fell in a 24-hour period Nov. 8 and 9,

_ Water pressure blew. apart the debris block with tremendous pressure,
causing a wall of trees and boulders. to Now down the slope. Eventually
some of it entered the reservoir, | ‘

‘Trees: stripped of branches and leaves were found kilometres down-

_ could leave insufficient time for the bike to clear before

stream, Welsman said.

The October landstide in the Capilano reservoir has prompted water dis-
trict staff to ask for water committee approval to spend at feast $250, 000 to
begin repair work in the reservoir.

The slide closed the Capilano reservoir and left the landslide site erod-

‘ed and unstable,

On Nov. 7, heavy rainfall caused further’ erosion at the site,
The situation adds urgency to the task of repairing and stabilizing the

‘site over the next few months to avoid periodic infusions of silt and clay that

will require the district to frequently remove the lake from service, said a.
water district report.

The district expects the stabilization work to temporarily increase tur-
bidity in the reservoir. However, failing to take corrective measures now
vater is drawn in
the summer of 1996, said the report.

Supplying Greater Vancouver next summer without Capilano's s waler
would be possible only with severe water rationing and a full sprinkling ban.

Thurber Engineering will help the district determine the extent of insta-
bility renining and develop stibilization procedures,

The engineering report is expected within a few weeks,

The district intends to proceed with the work once the repair process is
determined, assuming favorable weather conditions, Capilino reservoir tra-
ditionally exceeds turbidity standards an averige of 34 days a year:
Seymour, 18 days a year, and Coquitlam, four di ys a year,