O/T Hovercraft

[Dubbag]

They must have took some steering especially when the seas were rough, amazing how they did it

Well not really....you see the Hovercraft would be cancelled at the drop of a hat, if there was an increase in the sea breeze. The normal ferry would sale regardless but the Hovercraft...just wasn't reliable. Got there one day with a beautiful clear sky and it seemed pretty calm but it was cancelled......

Another interesting fact about the Solent crossing...mile for mile, it was/is the dearest stretch of water to cross in the world.....
Also,When it left the dock in Ryde Isle Of Wight...it took 15 minutes to cross to Portsmouth...and then it took 20 minutes to move into the shipping berth along side..... I use to get a connection train to London's Waterloo and there was always a touch and go feel to weather we would dock and disembark in time....

[mickd1961]

Yes been on one. Neither one thing or another, neither sailing or flying. They call it a flight but it's more like darting about like a dragonfly.

“Neither one thing or another”

I thought you were describing Neil Kinnock’s “grand/thing”.

Has anybody else read that b o l l o x today?

I sat their scratching my head trying to work out what it actually was!?

[Titchfieldbaggie]

Still do

[TipperaryBaggie]

Never been on one and though I love the sea I have a real fear of big boats.

Some mates in Stourbridge had other mates who were on The Herald Of Free Enterprise when it went down in Zebrugge, they were early 20’s and fit and it was only this that helped them survive.

The stories I heard about them clambering over a 100 feet vertically using the fixed table legs of the ship as she lay on her side filled me with horror.

They saw people coming flying past them who’d slipped higher up and who got smashed on tables as they flew past them to their death.

Then the ferry Estonia went down not long afterwards, the first the many sleeping passengers knew about the situation was when their cabin filled with freezing water in the pitch black as they sank two miles to the ocean floor.

Drowning and fire are my two biggest fears, I wouldn’t sleep on a big boat or go on a cruise if you paid the whole trip for me.

That land racing on mini hovercraft always looked fun though.

I actually worked on the Herald of Free Enterprise but I left in 1985 before she went down 1987. I knew a lot of the crew who sadly went down with ship. I know that the captain holds absolute responsibility with the ship but it was a shame that it happened to Dave Lewry who was one of the most respected captains in the whole fleet. I wont bore you with the details but most people were surprised that it happened years before. At least, it brought about a massive tightening of regulations which has since made ferry travel much safer.

Finally, back on the subject of hovercraft, one of the craft hit the wall coming into Dover harbour and then subsequently acquired the apt name of the Harbour Wallbanger!