The Great American Senior Show

Inside the Skunk Works of Triton Submarines with Founder Patrick Lahey

February 25, 2022 Sam Yates Season 2 Episode 45
The Great American Senior Show
Inside the Skunk Works of Triton Submarines with Founder Patrick Lahey
The Great American Senior Show +
Help us continue making great content for listeners everywhere.
Starting at $3/month
Support
Show Notes Transcript

Tucked away in an industrial area of Fellesmere, Florida you will find the world's leader in submersible technology -- Triton Submarines.

Triton has sent manned submersibles to the deepest depths of our planet's oceans. And made discoveries that will take your breath away.

The grey-haired host of the Great American Senior Show, Sam Yates, spent time in the "skunk works" of the Triton research team world headquarters to learn more about Triton Submarines and what surprising news may come soon for those who enjoy cruises or just a new discovery where no one has gone before. 

Support the show

The Great American Senior Show podcast is produced by Yates & Associates, Public Relations & Marketing. This podcast is part of the network of podcasts streaming under the umbrella of the Pod National News Network. For more information about Yates & Associates or the Pod National News Network, contact Sam Yates at (772) 528-5185 or Sam@Yatespro.com. Sponsorship opportunities are available. The Great American Senior Show is ranked 3rd Best in Senior Podcasts to Follow for 2023 in all podcasts for seniors in a comprehensive survey by feedspot.
30 Best Senior Podcasts You Must Follow in 2023 (feedspot.com)

Yates & Associates is a full-service Public Relations and Marketing company serving select clients throughout the United States and abroad. For more information visit www.YatesPRO.com .

Sam Yates:

Hello, everyone and welcome to another edition of The Great American Senior Show. I'm your gray hair and host, Sam Yates. And today I'm fortunate enough to be at the World Headquarters for Triton submarines. They are going submarine to Triton. That's exciting. Well, I have none other than the founder of Triton submarines, Patrick Lahey with me here today. Patrick, welcome to the program.

Patrick Lahey:

Well, thank you very much, Sam. It's a pleasure to be here with you and I look forward to our discussion.

Sam Yates:

You know, we've had an opportunity to chat a bit prior to the program here. But tell us a little bit about yourself. Let's let's set the stage with who you are first.

Patrick Lahey:

Well, I was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, about as far away from the ocean as you can get. But for some reason, I was lucky enough to live in Barbados for a few years, while my house my dad was building some houses. And that left a pretty lasting impression on my young mind. The ocean was something I was pretty enamored by at a young age. And so when I got old enough to learn how to scuba dive at the age of 13, I was lucky enough to have my father indulge me allowed me to, to become a diver. And then when I was 18 years of age, I decided against my parents wishes to become a commercial diver, which, you know, was maybe not the best choice, but for me was a very exciting moment.

Sam Yates:

And looking around your office. For those who are listening in right now one of the first things I spotted was the hat in the corner.

Patrick Lahey:

That's right, that's a commercial diving helmet. That's actually a Russian helmet. That's a mark five. Although I didn't work in Mark fives, you know, they were something we were exposed to at school, I use the more contemporary versions of that type of helmet. But yeah, my job essentially after going through commercial diving school was to become a construction worker that worked underwater, predominantly on oil platforms.

Sam Yates:

In looking to my right to the mark five that's on top of the file cabinets, there is a photo next to that helmet, and there's a young man

Patrick Lahey:

in it. That's right, that was me at the age of I think I was 19 in that picture, young and dumb bag of hammers, but full of enthusiasm for the career I had chosen and the opportunity to work in the sea, which was something that I was fully committed to

Sam Yates:

that age, one of our target audiences we have many investors included. But folks all around the world, seniors. So do you mind if I ask how old are you?

Patrick Lahey:

Yeah, not at all. I'm 59 years of age. I'll be 60 in April. And it's been a pretty interesting career that I've had, I've been very, very fortunate. I think I was lucky that I found something that that interested me at a young age, and that I was lucky enough to stay in that same sort of lane, if you will, all the way through to to present.

Sam Yates:

And I asked that question also for a particular reason, because a lot of people think I'm getting older, I can't do that. But you are still doing and you're not only doing, you're setting the standards by which people are going wow, to the bottom of the ocean.

Patrick Lahey:

That's right. Well, I'm not doing it alone. I have a lot of help. I want to put that in there. Because while I'm the co founder of Triton submarines, along with my business partner, Bruce Jones, we have some extraordinarily talented people that I get to work with every day. You know, and I think that's really what accounts for the magic. You know why we're able to build such great vehicles.

Sam Yates:

And I like the way you put that the magic that you have, for our audience. You know, Mr. Lahey, has a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face from year to year. You can tell that magic has not gone away. Which leads me then to the next question. This is one part of your career and I know you're going to continue doing it but what's your next big challenge with Triton?

Patrick Lahey:

Well, you know, at trading we're constantly confronting and, you know, overcoming challenges I think it's just part of the the landscape or seascape for us. I think our next while we're in the midst of developing two pretty interesting vehicles, we're building the deepest diving acrylics, pressure hull equip sub right now at our facility in San Kouga, just outside of Barcelona, Spain, and that's our marine will carry three people and dive to 7500 feet or bought 2300 meters, which is an extraordinary feat when you consider that nobody's ever been able to dive in a transparent pressure hole equip sub to that depth before, it really is a great demonstration of how far we've come. Ultimately, we'd like to be able to build a sub that could take you to any depth in the ocean with a transparent pressure hole. Unfortunately, acrylic the material that we use in our shallower diving subs, and I say shallow, it's not really shallow. But in the subs that go to depths of 4000 meters is acrylic, but the acrylic is not strong enough to take you all the way to the bottom of the ocean. So we're working, if you if you will, on our next grade challenge, which is to develop a sub with a pressure boundary made of glass that could take you to the deepest and most remote parts of our oceans, which we've done already with a titanium pressure Hall equipped sub that had acrylic windows in it. But now we'd like to give people that fully immersive experience of being inside of a transparent pressure boundary. Because it is so much more compelling than looking out viewports. Fortunately, you know, our vehicles are designed to work well within the operational limits of the material. And what we do is we adjust the diameter and the thickness of the acrylic pressure boundaries to suit the target diving depth. And in the case of the one that I've just mentioned being built in Barcelona, that pressure boundary will be 320 millimeters thick, which is almost about 13 inches of acrylic. Now you'd think 13 inches or acrylic, it must be really distorted. But it isn't. If you put a panel of acrylic in front of you, that is 13 inches thick, and you put a book on the other side of it, at least the material that we use in our subs, you can read that book, I mean, it is optically perfect. It doesn't mean you, you almost feel as though the material isn't there. In fact, acrylic has a really unique characteristic, and that it has the same refractive index is water almost the same. So when you submerge in a submersible that has a transparent pressure or made of acrylic, it's almost like the whole vanishes that there's nothing between you and the environment that you're exploring, and you feel almost like the fish could swim into the cabin, or you could reach out in touch them. And that makes the experience very immersive and very powerful emotionally.

Sam Yates:

Since we are an audio podcast. Your website is the best place for those people who listen right now. The best place for them to go and see what you're talking about your website. What is your website,

Patrick Lahey:

it's Triton sub stock calm, that's t ri to en su bs.com. And you're right on that site. Not only can you explore all of the different models that we've created, I think there's 14 or so different models. But you've got some great video and some great pictures that you can see from different expeditions that we've been lucky enough to participate in over the last 15 years as the company's been in business. It's really, if you're interested in the ocean you're interested in exploring. The website is great. There's lots of really good content.

Sam Yates:

You know, before for our audience before we actually started recording we were chatting about here in Mr. Leahy's office, and we were talking about your early days. And I think I can actually remember back to your early days Fort Lauderdale Boat Show 1215 years ago, I was looking for a new Boston Whaler and I came upon display and you guys were there and not a lot of people took you for took it for being serious and getting into this business. But you've made quite a journey.

Patrick Lahey:

That's right. I would say that initially, there was quite a bit of skepticism, maybe even fear surrounding the idea, this notion of a submersible on a yacht, and I think a lot of that has to do with the typical sort of stereotypes that we have of a submarine. You know, people think submarine, they think people choking on poisonous gas, you know, depth charges going off, you know, that sort of thing. Well, submersible is very different from a submarine. First of all, we've got nobody shooting at us, you know, there's no torpedoes involved. These vehicles are built for exploration. They're more of a vertical probe. You know, a submersible is designed to allow people to visit and explore really very deep parts of oceans much deeper than you would ever go in a in a military submarine. But certainly in the early days that you're referring to of Triton, when we would go to boat shows. People would laugh as they walk by our booth and say, Look at Looney Tunes over here. He wants to put a submarine on a yacht. What a dumb idea that is. Well, you know, in hindsight, it wasn't a dumb idea. It may have been an idea before it's time I think it ultimately is an inspired idea. And I think actually yachting is almost the perfect environment for our products, because you've got clients that have the wherewithal to afford them because they're expensive. And they have, by and large, a fascination with the ocean. They tend to be pretty adventurous by nature, you know, these yacht owners, they like to go places and see things and do things. And I think what really changed the narrative for us was having a couple of people buy subs, go on some extraordinary dives, you know, things that left a really indelible impression on them, and then to talk about it. So that that really is what I think shifted, and we went from being a product on the fringes that only crazy people would think of buying, to now something that almost anybody who's building a new adventure based yacht is going to want to have.

Sam Yates:

And that transitions into some other uses that, I'm going to ask you first, can you come back for another episode, of course, I'd

Patrick Lahey:

be delighted to,

Sam Yates:

because we're going to go into some of those other uses. And I think our audience is going to be fascinated at what is coming with Triton subs, and the cruise industry and a few other things. That's that's just a little teaser. Before we wrap up this portion of our program, though, give us an idea of the types I know they range from A to Z relatives knows, but what are the different types that you manufacture?

Patrick Lahey:

Well, the submersibles vary in capacity and diving depth. So we have a sub that will carry a single person, and we have a sub that will carry as many we have a sub that will carry 66 people and and sort of everything in between, then we've got subs that will dive to just a couple 100 meters or about 650 660 feet. And then we have a sub that will go to the very deepest point in the ocean, 36,000 feet, or 11,000 meters, very deepest point in the ocean. So the majority of our products tend to be focused in the 1000 meter diving depth range or about 3300 feet. And those tend to carry anywhere from you know, two, to as many as seven people. And you know, they're expensive, but they allow people to go to a part of our world, they simply couldn't reach any other way.

Sam Yates:

And I think that's, that's something that we need to create an awareness

Patrick Lahey:

of we do. And I'll tell you something, if you make a dive in a submersible, I guarantee you, it will leave an indelible impression, it will be something you'll never forget. And almost without exception, we have people that come out of a sob and say, that was the most most incredible thing I've ever done. And the reason they say that is because it's completely different than what they expected. You know, this idea that it's going to be dark and scary and devoid of life couldn't be further from the truth. And I think when you're in there, and you get to see the ocean from the perspective of a submersible with the lights on, and you see how brilliant and exciting and how vibrant it is, it will create. If you're not an ocean advocate already, you'll become one.

Sam Yates:

And that is something we're also going to talk about, what are the subs cost?

Patrick Lahey:

Well, they range from about two and a half million dollars all the way up to about $35 million, with the majority of them clustered in the three and a half to $6 million range.

Sam Yates:

And that is an important note because that means that at those prices, there are certain venues that can afford to get the price, began a business or supplement a business and make money off of that. So it's all of a sudden something they can look at their their end of year report and go you know what next year, we're going to add this to what we're doing because it will increase our revenues. And I think that's happening.

Patrick Lahey:

Sure the majority of our products these days are being put onto private motor yachts. But you alluded to something that has recently changed, which is we're now seeing cruise ships, the more adventurer focus cruise ships that go to out of the way places and take guests who are maybe a little bit more interested in an adventure than just going to the next port. We're starting to see interest from these companies and incorporating a submersible onboard, so that you can offer the guests on the ship and experience both on the water and above the water like helicopters and stuff like that, but you can now take them and show them what's beneath the sea beneath the surface.

Sam Yates:

Fascinating. Patrick, I do want to thank you for this portion of our program and you're going to come back. Absolutely great. And we're going to have episode number two and we'll go into some more details of everything that is tripod. In the meantime, I'm Sam Yates you gray haired host of the Great American Senior Show and that's how our program ends