Cross Channel Hovercraft

Author
Discussion

Mr E

21,582 posts

258 months

Wednesday 16th November 2016
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Memories involve being able to hear them from my bedroom. I lived 2km away...

spitfire-ian

3,829 posts

227 months

347Andy

746 posts

95 months

Wednesday 16th November 2016
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"Princess Anne, Princess Margaret and Swift. and another small craft I forget the name of
Did most routes
Dover calais / boulogne
Ramsgate boulogne
Was fast, rough and noisy.Although once you had landed it would take me an hour to recover from the crossing"

Plus you needed to re-mortgage the house to be able to afford the fares especially at peak rates in summer !

rs1952

5,247 posts

258 months

Wednesday 16th November 2016
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Alan_I_W said:
Such a shame they scrapped them. I remember just after I got my first Impreza I drove with my friend with his 405 MI16 to the south of France. August 1996 I think.
I see that spitfire-ian has pointed you to the other thread that was running on this matter some months ago.

Both SRN4s Princess Margaret and Princess Anne were still in one piece back in August at the Hovercraft Museum at Lee on Solent, but the writing was on the wall for Princess Margaret..

Here are a couple of shots I took at the Open Day:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/93122458@N08/2858695...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/93122458@N08/2912877...

GAjon

3,721 posts

212 months

Wednesday 16th November 2016
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Working in Dover on the run up to Xmas in 1987.
Up to the terminal, book a non-lander, buy 4 packs of 3 slabs of Stella already packed together with little wheels on.
Drag them up onto the hovercraft, bumpy ride over the channel and back, then try and get back to the car park without the wheels falling off the lager haul.

The last time I was at the French terminal it was using it as a motor home aire.

aeropilot

34,297 posts

226 months

Thursday 17th November 2016
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Ozzie Osmond said:
Mind you, the so-called Jetfoil wasn't much better. A Boeing creation which was supposed to offer a smooth ride. Ho-ho!
Did the Boeing Jet-Foil route that used to run from Brighton to Dieppe back in the late 70's, and I concur with your thoughts on that subject biggrin
Was fun though.

Never did get around to a SRN hovercraft trip though regretfully. They were certainly noisy beasts.....spent a weeks holiday in Pegwell once in the 70's, and the sound of them is still ingrained in my memory!

Slushbox

1,484 posts

104 months

Thursday 17th November 2016
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Princess Margaret is/was parked at HoverCraft Museum at Lee-on-Solent. Went on it when it was in service, to Hook de Holland. Fast and bumpy.

On the return the thing broke down halfway across and limped back to HdH one engine, or something. They shoved a spare 'thing' on the other HH, sent it over, and fitted while we waited. :-)

Hovertravel still operate on the Isle of Wight route. You can take bikes. When the tide is out it does 60 mph up the beach at Ryde. Quite exciting.

http://www.hovertravel.co.uk/

Alan_I_W

Original Poster:

471 posts

89 months

Thursday 17th November 2016
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spitfire-ian said:
Cheers, I'll go have a read of that.

Europa1

10,923 posts

187 months

Thursday 17th November 2016
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I went on them a few times as a child on family holidays to France. Absolutely loved them. Was gutted I never got to go on one of the monsters operated by SNCF.

LotusOmega375D

7,580 posts

152 months

Thursday 17th November 2016
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I'm surprised at all the bad experiences people seem to have had with the cross-channel hovercraft. Several times each year in the early/mid 1990s I would take a car to the continent on business. I got to experience the pros and cons of all the cross-channel options, but the hovercraft was pretty good. Less queuing at Dover, quicker journey time, ability to stretch your legs a bit and have a bite to eat en route and quicker access to the motorway network at Calais. One thing it wasn't good for though was watching the world go by: the sea spray made that pretty much impossible.

Alan_I_W

Original Poster:

471 posts

89 months

Thursday 17th November 2016
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LotusOmega375D said:
I'm surprised at all the bad experiences people seem to have had with the cross-channel hovercraft. Several times each year in the early/mid 1990s I would take a car to the continent on business. I got to experience the pros and cons of all the cross-channel options, but the hovercraft was pretty good. Less queuing at Dover, quicker journey time, ability to stretch your legs a bit and have a bite to eat en route and quicker access to the motorway network at Calais. One thing it wasn't good for though was watching the world go by: the sea spray made that pretty much impossible.
I think one of the alloys on my Impreza got scuffed when they locked the wheels down with that tow rope stuff.

Buffy d

613 posts

196 months

Thursday 17th November 2016
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Ozzie Osmond said:
Mind you, the so-called Jetfoil wasn't much better. A Boeing creation which was supposed to offer a smooth ride. Ho-ho!

I believe they're both now to be found only in Jurassic Park.
Actually Jetfoils still operate regularly out in the Far East; I took one from Hong Kong to Macau and back a few years ago and loved it smile

rs1952

5,247 posts

258 months

Thursday 17th November 2016
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LotusOmega375D said:
I'm surprised at all the bad experiences people seem to have had with the cross-channel hovercraft. Several times each year in the early/mid 1990s I would take a car to the continent on business. I got to experience the pros and cons of all the cross-channel options, but the hovercraft was pretty good. Less queuing at Dover, quicker journey time, ability to stretch your legs a bit and have a bite to eat en route and quicker access to the motorway network at Calais. One thing it wasn't good for though was watching the world go by: the sea spray made that pretty much impossible.
Likewise. I thought that they were the best way to cross the channel, with an end-to-end time matching the tunnel today, and a lot less hassle to load and unload.

History suggests that we may not have been the only two people who thought that way, because within 5 years of replacing them with those god-awful Seacats (a transit time only a few minutes slower than a ferry and an absolute pain to load and unload) Hovertravel ceased trading.

belleair302

6,835 posts

206 months

Thursday 17th November 2016
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I remember in 1990 going over to Le Mans by Hovercraft and there being some really great cars struggling up the ramp. Will see if I have any photos somewhere. Amazing sensation as the skirts inflated, dead seagulls all of the ramp and off you went somewhat sideways into the Channel. They were vast machines and so noisy inside too, but staggering on a calm sea.

Alan_I_W

Original Poster:

471 posts

89 months

Friday 18th November 2016
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rs1952 said:
Hovertravel ceased trading.
Hovertravel still operate, it's Hoverspeed that went under.

MOTORVATOR

6,991 posts

246 months

Friday 18th November 2016
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If it wasn't for Princess Anne I would never have become a member of the foot high club. wink

LotusOmega375D

7,580 posts

152 months

Friday 18th November 2016
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MOTORVATOR said:
If it wasn't for Princess Anne I would never have become a member of the foot high club. wink
Sounds like she used to put it about a bit.

Elderly

3,486 posts

237 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
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dcb said:
motco said:
God awful contraptions!
+1

My impression was of a high speed tin tray being bashed along the surface by the waves.
BANG BANG BANG BANG every second for an hour or so.

High speed certainly, but plenty of vibration and noise.
My brother-in-law was a captain between Ramsgate and Boulogne.

I once travelled in the cockpit, up a steel ladder and sealed in by a substantial hatch.
The ride was truly appalling and I felt sick most of the way but with no way of leaving the cockpit.
The crew's job seemed really boring, they seemed to spend their entire time pumping fuel around between (four?) fuel tanks in order to change the aspect the hovercraft depending on its speed, the wind and the waves.

My b-I-l had to take early retirement from the job because the ride gave him back problems.

Bert Cheese

238 posts

91 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
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Not the comfiest place to be I suppose, plenty to look at though...

grumpy52

5,565 posts

165 months

Friday 2nd December 2016
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One of the captains was known as Rambo .He was the only captain never to get stranded in France. Whatever the weather he came home .The shore crew were not impressed with having all that vomit .
The best sight was the hovercraft club and all the smaller craft exiting the mother ship after a Goodwin Sands trip .