Rower by Day, Submarine Engineer by Night: A Day in the Life of Loren Phillips

6 a.m.

Then, practice begins.

Although Phillips is in his second year with the Triton men’s rowing team, practices still carry a special feeling for him.

“I’ll be out on the water and look around for a second and think about how lucky I am,” Phillips reflected. “It’s crazy that I’m out there in a boat at 6 a.m. There’s gorgeous water and the sun rising up and it’s like no one else is awake. I think, “Who else gets to do this?”’

The tranquil scenery is a stark contrast to the intensity of the team’s practice. Phillips and his teammates spend two hours out on the water, training hard as they prepare for competition. 

“Rowing is one of the most grueling activities I’ve ever engaged in,” Phillips shared. “I’ve never felt the same level of pain and discomfort anywhere else in my life, and I think that’s almost one reason why I fell in love with it, because of that level of discomfort that I didn’t even know was possible.

“Rowing requires so much physicality, and if you’re willing to bring that intensity, it’s a sport you can be successful at,” Phillips added. “It’s a brotherhood and it’s competitive.”

8:30 a.m.

After two hours of rigorous practice on Mission Bay, Phillips’ day is far from over. He returns to the UC San Diego campus with his teammates, heading to his room to get breakfast and shower. 

Then, classes await.

10 a.m.

Phillips is currently undeclared in his area of study, but is aiming to major in mechanical engineering. This quarter, his mornings and afternoons are spent in classes like solid mechanics and mathematical reasoning.

The grind of strenuous practices and challenging classes is something many scholar-athletes can relate to, but Phillips’ day isn’t over once he has wrapped up rowing and his academics. 

6 p.m.

Then, it’s time to work on a human-powered submarine.

The concept is unfamiliar to many outside of the engineering field, and it was even unknown to Phillips when he first joined UC San Diego’s human-powered submarine club.

“I knew absolutely nothing at all [about human-powered submarines],” Phillips laughed. “I had a friend who lived in my building and he reached out to me at the beginning of winter quarter to let me know about this small project organization that works on submarines. He talked about how it was one of his closest groups of friends and how they work extremely hard.”

Phillips’ interest was piqued by his friend’s descriptions of the club. As Phillips began asking about the club, he expected that they would meet around once a week. However, he soon found out that it would be a much larger undertaking if he decided to join, especially on top of his commitment to the rowing team. After meeting the other members though, Phillips decided to join.

“It’s definitely a huge time commitment for me,” Phillips said. “We meet around three hours twice a week, and then on Saturdays we have another six-hour workday. That’s usually the minimum.”

After joining the club, Phillips quickly learned about the world of human-powered submarines. The submarines, which are powered by a pedaling human pilot, are built from scratch by the club each year. The team chooses to build either a propeller-powered submarine or a non-propeller – known as non-prop – submarine. This year, the team chose to build a non-prop submarine with an airfoil on the back, which is a single tail-like structure.

Most years, the team’s aim is to compete in the International Submarine Race, displaying the speed of their craft and the distance it can travel. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic however, the competition was moved online for 2021 and the club has opted not to participate this year. 

The UC San Diego team is divided into sub-teams, including factions like the documentation sub-team, drivetrain sub-team, electronic sub-team, and manufacturing sub-team. Phillips is part of the club’s drivetrain sub-team. The drivetrain is what converts the submarine pilot’s energy into propulsion. 

For Phillips and his sub-team, the process starts with a planning phase.

“We try to figure out how to approach the problem of applying the power of someone pedaling in a submarine to a tail, moving back and forth,” Phillips explained. “There’s hundreds of ideas that get thrown out.

“Once we land on an idea, we hop into the computer design program to start cooking up the plans and the parts, and essentially seeing what works. As we start to actually make this stuff and design it and create assemblies within computer programs, we can see what works, what doesn’t work, and what we’re capable of manufacturing.”

While the team as a whole makes as much from scratch as possible, there are some manufacturing limits. For example, the team purchases bearings instead of building them. The drivetrain is primarily constructed from items manufactured by Phillips and his peers though. 

The drivetrain sub-team must ensure that the parts they build can withstand the torque and force applied to them. After manufacturing parts and putting them together, the process is still far from over. 

“The key is getting it designed and built, so there’s plenty of time to troubleshoot,” Phillips shared. “The name of the game, even at the international competition, is making repairs on the fly. You want a submarine that's extremely serviceable. The testing on the computer helps you see if parts can take a certain magnitude of torque coming into it, but you really have to put things together to see how it works.”

The club is currently in the real-life testing stage. Although the team is facing limitations on in-person contact this year due to COVID-19, most years they come together to test their human-powered submarine in a pool. Many members of the club are even scuba certified. While conducting the testing in the pool, there are multiple safety divers around as the team tests and services the submarine. 

Since UC San Diego is opting not to participate in this year’s online International Submarine Race, the team has a new end goal: a successful beach launch. The team is in the midst of preparing to launch as soon as they can. 

While an exact location for the launch has not yet been determined, one of the places being considered by the club is a spot very familiar to Phillips and the rowing team – Mission Bay. Regardless of the location though, Phillips is looking forward to the experience.

"I am excited to see my teammates' hours of hard work and collaboration hopefully result in a successful launch of the submarine,” Phillips said. “Despite the challenges of COVID: lack of access to a machine shop, limited potential to work both together and hands-on, and the in-person International Submarine Race being cancelled, the team has prevailed with unwavering energy and motivation. 

“Working with this group is an absolute blast and I am ecstatic to send the submarine off into the depths... Hopefully it makes it back in one piece."

Although the entire process has required much time and effort from Phillips, he is confident that it has been worth it.

“It’s an extremely great learning experience, especially since I’m hoping to major in mechanical engineering and it’s so hands-on,” Phillips reflected. “Even though it’s a little tough with COVID and we have to stay socially distanced, it’s a hilarious group of people. They know how to work extremely hard but also have a lot of fun.”

With the human-powered submarine club, rowing, and classes on his plate, it is a balancing act for Phillips to manage all of it. Despite it being challenging at times, he has been able to make it work.

“A lot of the time, the balance comes from less sleep,” Phillips admitted with a laugh. “Other than that, though, I’d say it comes from squeezing in work whenever I can, wherever I can to keep up with school. 

“The truth is, it takes a lot of time, but I’d rather be busy than bored,” Phillips explained. “Being busy with such great groups of people is worth it in my opinion.”

During his time with both the human-powered submarine club and the rowing team, Phillips has noticed similarities between the two.

“They both share a sense of optimism through struggle,” Phillips said. “Using frustration in the right way in both rowing and engineering design can be truly effective. Using frustration in the wrong way will greatly work against you. 

“For example, there’s parts I know my teammates have had to remake for the submarine dozens of times,” Phillips explained. “Just staying optimistic and using the frustration to motivate, inspire, and give you energy will pay dividends. The same thing goes for rowing. It’s really easy to get frustrated if your day on the water isn’t going well, but if you use that frustration in the wrong way, everyone else inside the boat will be feeding off that negative energy and it won’t be a good day.”

As the end of the spring quarter nears, the payoff of Phillips’ countless hours of hard work quickly approaches. Whether it is the beach launch with the human-powered submarine club or the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championships with the rowing team, exciting moments await Phillips as he continues to dedicate himself to his pursuits. 

In the meantime, when the clock hits 9 p.m., Phillips wraps up his work on the human-powered submarine. The day ahead will bring another 5:30 a.m. wake-up, and Phillips wouldn’t have it any other way.

About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions III and II and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America accolades, while 38 have received prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.

Return To Sport… Safely

In order for UC San Diego scholar-athletes to be permitted to return to training and competition safely and within federal, state, local and university guidelines, the athletic department implemented a number of measures designed to complement and enhance the university’s highly-successful Return To Learn program.  Notable actions include being physically distanced when practical, including during out-of-season training sessions; wearing masks, except when undergoing physically strenuous exercise; and maintaining proper hygiene.  Athletes, coaches and staff are testing at a higher frequency than the campus population, teams adhere to CDC, NCAA and Big West Conference guidelines and department officials participate in regular meetings with conference and university-affiliated physicians and the UC San Diego emergency operations staff.