Holiday Hovercraft
By pgn
@pgntwo (22408)
Derry, Northern Ireland
August 5, 2016 3:11pm CST
I had the pleasure of a trip on one of the few remaining commercial hovercraft operations last week. The 10-minute ride to cross the Solent between Southsea, Portsmouth and Ryde on the Isle of Wight was well worth the £21.00 return fare.
One of the advantages of the hovercraft, which skims across the surface of the sea on its inflated skirt, is that it is immune to the tide - at low tide, the last half-mile of the 4.5mile journey can be over the exposed sandy shore on the Ryde side! The regular ferry requires a dedicated pier over deeper water...
The hovercraft takes it all in its stride, hurling itself off the sea in a corona of spray and darting up the beach like a pirouetting ballerina in a rubber skirt - truly a sight to behold!
It's 60 years since inventor Christopher Cockerell demonstrated the principles of the hovercraft. But it never caught on widely as passenger transport. Why?
14 people like this
13 responses
@Drosophila (16573)
• Ireland
15 Aug 16
@pgntwo maybe! I have too many things on the list lol! And I have been doing something fun every month for 1 year now. I might eventually get to cross somethings off
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22408)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
15 Aug 16
@Drosophila Or get a bigger bucket 
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22408)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
6 Aug 16
It is true, you are enclosed - the hovercraft stirs up a lot of spray or mist as the powerful fans push it over the sea's surface. And the Windows tend to be covered in spray too, so seeing out through them is difficult. Still, it was well-lit inside, and the seats in the cabin made it very similar to travelling in an aeroplane.
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
7 Aug 16
I'd love to have a hovercraft ride one day - hope some of them survive
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
7 Aug 16
@pgntwo I never knew they were in such decline - so sad
1 person likes this
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
6 Aug 16
I had a go on an air boat ...it was brilliant I loved it...I have not been on a hovercraft...but the feeling sounds much the same from the way you've described it....
1 person likes this
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
6 Aug 16
@pgntwo it was .... and that's where I went on one. ..it was brilliant..
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22408)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
6 Aug 16
@sueznewz2 Lucky you - skimming across the water on a giant petrol-powered fan! :)
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
7 Aug 16
I have never seen a hovercraft before, except on tv! I would love to see one in real life, as well as get the chance to ride on one! I've never even been on a ferry before! lol
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118827)
• Gainesville, Florida
7 Aug 16
@pgntwo Definitely! I'll add them to my ever-growing bucket list!
1 person likes this
@pgntwo (22408)
• Derry, Northern Ireland
11 Aug 16
Early hovercraft were classified as aircraft rather than maritime craft... I think safety regulations on-board still pay tribute to the hovercraft's history. No-one on board seemed to be concerned for their safety, it was quite relaxed.
1 person likes this
@Ceerios (4698)
• Goodfellow, Texas
18 Aug 16
@pgntwo - Friend PGN - Seems to me as though Cockerell's hovercraft would be a very handy gadget to have if a person wanted to rapidly escape from a tipping-over Island of Guam - or maybe to help rid the island of tipover weight should too many people crowd onto but one side of the place. (Pretty nifty gadget, the hovercraft.) -Gus-
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
7 Aug 16
I used to use the Hovercraft regularly from Dover to Calais or Boulogne. I loved the experience from beginning to end. Watching the skirt inflate and then as the engines were thrust to full power being gently lifted into the air and skimming across the English Channel in 30 minutes!
1 person likes this
@crystalvisions (440)
• United Kingdom
9 Aug 16
I used to love listening to stories from my late father who used to travel by hovercraft a lot. We have ferries to get to our town now but back in the 1970s when the price of oil wasn't that expensive, hovercraft was the way to go. You're lucky to have experienced that.
1 person likes this
