Nature’s

Hydroplaning

Experts

I was able to learn quite a bit about how

Mother Nature had equipped some creatures

to deal with the things that I had experienced

in my previous challenges, so it made sense to

see if there was anything to be learned from

the natural world about hydroplaning.

T SEEMED highly unlikely that there

would be creatures out there who were

attempting to do anything like riding a

motorbike across a lake, but nature is full of

surprises. The first surprise was a South

American creature called the basilisk lizard.

The basilisk lives in the rainforests, never too

far away from water, and if it thinks something

is sneaking up on it the lizard sprints off

towards the nearest water – and just keeps

going. It runs across the surface on its hind legs

with most of the rest of its body out of the

water. Now you’re probably thinking that the

basilisk runs on water because it’s only about

the size of a fingernail, but these guys can

actually grow reasonably large. An adult male

can be up to 80 cm (2 feet 8 inches) long,

although 75 per cent of that will be its tail.

Nevertheless, they are specially equipped for

running on water. They have large hind feet

with scaly flaps on the long toes. On land these

are folded tight to the toes, but when it takes to

the water they fan out, giving the feet a larger

surface area. When it runs on water the basilisk

slaps its feet down on to the surface, pushing

water out to the side, trapping bubbles of air

and also creating downward pressure that is

countered by the water. It then pushes its foot

back to paddle forwards and keep up its

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164  hydroplaning motorbike

momentum before that foot is lifted and the

other one slaps down.

Smaller, lighter basilisks can manage greater

distances across the water before they

eventually start to sink, but they are all good

swimmers and can even stay underwater for up

to an hour, making the nearest river or pond a

real safe haven for them. Their ability to walk

on water, albeit only for a short burst, has led

them to become known as the Jesus lizard.

Although it is using some of the principles

involved in hydroplaning, thrust and pressure,

the Jesus lizard hasn’t really mastered

hydroplaning as well as aquatic birds like the

swan. If you ever catch a glimpse of a swan

coming into land on water you will see a real

hydroplaning expert at work. Having stalled

its wings – I know quite a bit about that from

my glider experience – the swan extends its

legs forward towards the water and spreads its

webbed feet at exactly the right angle of attack

to allow it to hydroplane across the surface

until its forward momentum is exhausted

and it can settle gently on to the pond. The

whole landing sequence means that the swan,

and other aquatic birds, can come in for a

controlled landing rather than simply smashing