Sometimes following your dreams can take you underwater. This, at least, was the case of Vasily Chikur, 48, a Ukrainian businessman who saw a submarine in a dream – and built it.
Chikur hatched the idea during a birthday celebration in early 2010, when he pledged to his friends to build a helicopter and a submarine, Segodnya.ua local news Web site reported.
But the Odessa resident got stuck when it came to designing the underwater vessel – until his subconscious helped him out, the report said.
“I saw my submarine in a dream, it was a very real vision,” Chikur was quoted as saying.
“I was waking up and running to the kitchen to put down the designs, aided by a cup of tea,” he said.
The design turned out to be based on a beer barrel, and actual makers of beer barrels were employed to create the hull from Chikur’s blueprints.
The vessel, which cost Chikur some 100,000 hryvnia ($12,300), was commissioned in June and has since executed several dives, during which it even pulled some underwater loops, according to its proud owner.
Chikur is still struggling to have the vessel – the first privately-made submarine in the history of Ukraine – registered with the bewildered state authorities, Segodnya.ua said.
