| Deep thoughts on underwater

RIPPING Yarns
returns today to the
waterfront.

On the North Shore it’s
where most things begin and
end. Most important things,
thar is.

For resident underwater
technology genius Phil
Nuytten, water is where it’s
at.

It’s where he lives. Always
has,

For him it has provided a
boundless undersea world of
possibilities.

The 57-vear-old’s list of
accomplishments in the
underwater world are legion
and legend.

The latest is the Exosuit,
the next generation of the
revolutionary single-atmos-
Phere diving suit technology
that Nuytten has been instru-
menaal in developing over the
last two decades.

That technology was first
used in Nuytten’s break-
through Newtsuit, which he
developed from 1979 to
1986. However, that inven-
tion and his Hard Suits Inc.,
the company he founded to
manufacture and sell the
Newtsuit, were acquired in a
hostile takeover by an
American company in 1996.

Bat that loss ultimatel;:
turned out to be Nuytten’s
gain. It led to the Exosuit,
which is about one-seventh
the weight of the Newtsuit
and, at $100,000, sells for
about a fifth of what the
Newtsuit sells for.

It is, as so many of

mailbox

Nuytten’s inventions have
been before it, the new dar-
ling of the deep-sea diving
world.

Displaved at a recent dive
technology show in New
Orleans, it is now in demand
all over the globe.

But, as the late great
coluninist Jack Wasserman
would say, that’s not really
the item.

Neither is the
DeepWorker 2000. The
Nuytten-designed one-man
deep sea submersible has
grabbed headlines in science
publications and newspapers
the world over since its devel-
opment in 1997 and 1998. It
has attracted notice as far up
the food chain as the White
House. It has been variously
described as an underwater
MG or what the Jetsons
would have had if they had
driven a Volkswagen, It can
reach depths of up to 2,000
feet and fs as easy to operate,
Nuytten says, as a golf cart.

For USS$325,000, that’s
not a bad piece of deep water
technology. Thus far .
Nuytten’s Nuytco Research
Ltd. has sold about 12
DeepWorkers.

And Nuytco recently

Solution is underground

Dear Editor:

Does everything have to be
a major political disaster?

The deep trouble of the
new ferries, the Lions Gate
crossing refurbishing and the
financial situation of the
province all give support to the
old saying “a fool and his
money are soon parted.”

The other sage saying that
“the dearest is the least exren-
sive in the long run” coulc ix
very well applied to the much
needed third crossing of
Burrard Inlet.

The sensibility of the late
Hans Bentzen’s 1993 proposal
of traffic and transit tunnels
would climinate the chaos
presently. experienced. Such a
project would _ elevate
‘Vancouver to that of a warld-
class city and pave the way for
Olympic games selection with
Whistler. Bentzen’s George
Massey tunnel is a successful
forerunner and example.

Financing would be cov-
ered by the real-estate value of
the 175-acre island generated
by the fill from the tunnels.

If Prince Edward {sland can
have a bridge built to the main-
land surely Vancouver can solve
its major problem and send a
diesel SkyTrain to Whistler for

David Neel

“ Native JEWELLERY/
Weboinc RINGS

“5ag 3515 |

the Olympic games.
Derrick Humphreys
West Vancouver

re S.LAURSEN &

draperies

signed a tive-scar deal with
the National Geographic
Society that will involve the
use of two DeepWorkers and
a DeepWorker crew in the
society's ambitious
Sustainable Seas Expeditions
research: project.

But that again is not the
item,

Nuytten, vou see, is aman
with many irons in the fire.

His Hollywood
Underwater Ltd. venture, for
example, supplics underwater
technology to the interna-
tional film industry,

He is the president of the
Historical Diving Society of
Canada; he is deeply
immersed in the culture of
Northwest Coast Indians; he
is himself a carver of consid-
erable talents; and he is an
ardent collector of diving
technology. Some 250 tons
of the stuff fill his Lower
Lonsdale warehouse and
workshop areas.

But he is also a promoter
of B.C. and B.C. ingenuity.

Especially as that ingenu-
ity is applied to the West
Coast’s abundant ocean
resources.

Thus his Deep
Foundation.

You could measure it in a
number of ways but deep is
an apt description for
Nuytten and his foundazion.

In Nuytten’s vision it
would be a key anchor in the
redevelopment of North
Vancouver City’s waterfront
by presenting a display of
B.C. dive technology for
public viewing and apprecia-
tion.

Tf there is self-promotion
here, I’m don’t see it.

Pretension and huckster-
ism are not part of the
Nuytten persona.

If not for the futuristic
Exosuit standing amidst the
rest of the office clutter, a
Nuytco visitor could be

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excused tor thinking himself
in acar repair shop or any
other small Lower Lonsdale
light industrial business.

Nuytten’s works of genius
have been conceived and
developed right down your
street ina non-descript ware-
house and industrial business
district.

He and his companies
have attracted hundreds of
millions of dollars into the
B.C. economy.

So Nuytten could be for-
given a wide streak of preten-
sion, but that is not the game
here. B.C. underwater inven-
tiveness is.

And that inventiveness has
contributed much to the
world’s storehouse of under-
water technology: from the
Pisces sub to scanning sonar
to remotely operated vehicles
(ROVs) to the DeepWorker
and the Exosuit.

But as is so often the case,
local enterprise is too often
overlooked in favour of the
imported.

If it’s made here, it can’t
be that special runs the rea-
sening behind the traditional
Canadian inferiority complex.

The Deep Foundation
would aim to overcome that
attitude. It would be one
component of a major history
and technology centre pro-
posed for the old Versatile
Shipyards 35,000 sq. ft.
machine shop building.

It would be combined
with a North Shore Muscum
and Archives history centre
that would present stories of
logging, shipbuilding, lumber
milling and other Burrard
Inlet port activities that were
so much a part of North
Vancouver’s rich past.

In the

Just like the old song this new
Store at Lonsdale Quay has love
on its mind. And so does the
Store owner. Sarah opened the
Shop a few months ago in the
hopes of offering a comfortable
place for people to purchase
sensual gifts.

{isin fact a tasteful, dassy love
shop with wonderfull gill ideas
to "keep the lust in your love" as
Sarah likes to say, It's also

Sunday, May 9, 1999 — North Shore News - 7

So it Woald be a place to
celebrate the North Shore's
past and present and consider
the boundless possibilities of
its future.

That sounds like a good

place to begin North

Vancouver City tor visitors

and residents alike.
A Deep thought if es
there was one.

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Walk with the
North Shore
Branch
of the

SOCIETY

Sunoay, May 16TH

Meet at John Lawson Park at 10am {foot of 17th, West Van)
Walk along the seawall to Dundarave Pier and back

Help us beat
“Youth's Greatest Disabler”

For info call 926-0856

become a favorite spot
to shop for bridal shower gifts
and fun gents for that all impor-
tant stugetie. Our Home Party
demonstrations make terrific
Stagelies, You can even cus-
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You can ako find the exquisite
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As you enter the store you'll
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Toys for lovers and books on
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«that you ain brush on and

Ifyou're looking for something
unusual ask Sarah about sen-
sual photography or for the
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When you're Ieccng for treats
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Take the stairs or the elevator to
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Sree ES athbomb

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with every purchase *

exptres May P1199

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In The

Mood |

Lonsdale Quay Market 990-0580

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