1991.08 Hoverspeed dover calais ferry service - hovercraft

some old video 8 footage converted to digital - 1991 Hover-speed dover calais ferry service - hovercraft this was taken in Calais France

[@Nobel200]

Go and see them before they disappear forever at the hovercraft museum. You can go inside one still but they are deteriorating as they are outside. This underfunded, volunteer run museum is hard to find and receives little funding. Pity Britain does'nt appreciate their unique heritage more.

[@sandisheldon2256]

I miss it so much when i see this. I lived abroad from 1980 to 2003 and flew back for visits - when we moved back to UK we drove our car and turned up at Calais looking for the Hovercraft - i was sooo disappointed.

[@jauspac]

fond memories of this mammoth beast.rode one in 1990 when I was 12.the family was on a tour of western Europe.Europe in the 90s was awesome.Wouldn't have been complete without a ride on this bad boy.really fun and the experience is unmatched and once in a lifetime.

[@freespirit4696]

I will never forget the sound of these noisy things when laying to go to sleep in the town of Dover as a small boy, it was all most comforting as it echoed up the valleys of Dover. Nostalgia.

[@elisabethdarimont8255]

I have being hovering 4 times in my life. It was fantastic. I will never forget. So fast, so super. Sad, to see them never again. Flying with plane or helicopter is not the same!😢😢

[@kakaphotos]

I crossed the Channel once in one of those things during a storm. It was very scary, the craft was bouncing and sliding every which way. An unforgettable experience :)

[@louiselage7740]

So did I back in August 1989....horrible storm with massive 30+ ft swells....I honestly thought I was going to die that day....

[@peterbustin2683]

Yes it was absolutely terrifying and took ages to cross. I will never forget it!

[@cneejr]

Same experience.

[@klarie6805]

Alltogether - the Hovercraft was one of the safes transports at its time. Even the few accidents it had - the very same with a conventional ship is expected to cause more trouble and fatalities. I had a smooth ride with the Princess Margaret, cool ride. Even if the channel was not like a bath tub..

[@manougivaudan1480]

Très contente de voir cette vidéo je suis de calais et c'était un vrai spectacle de montrer l'arrivée et le départ de lovercraft un réel plaisir Merci

[@fionnaaragazza7777]

Pourquoi ils l'ont arrêté ? 1h30 c'est long. Why did they stop it ? 1h30 it is long.

[@pj8143]

Mum & I went on the Hovercraft in 1988 it was brilliant as we were visiting the UK & Europe for 2 month holiday from Australia . Luckily we chose the hovercraft as there was a ferry strike & it didn't affect us. I wished they kept them running it was an experience of a life time.

[@pj8143]

Who cares if it was noisy so are aircrafts when they take off or land no different. You get it when you have Hoons doing burnouts in their high powered motorbikes & cars late at night or anytime during the day.

[@Meanmanmartin2007]

Me and my family ended up having a ride on the Hovercraft from Dover to Calais back at April 2000. We were booked on the Seacat but it got cancelled due to bad weather and we were moved to the Hovercraft instead. Ride was extremely uncomfortable due to the rough seas and about 90% of the passengers were throwing up. Somehow none of us got affected by that.

[@supabry26]

Oh no compo claims and newspaper stories about how they ruined your life then? Weird.

[@rumina6886]

I travelled in this same hovercraft in August 1973 with my parents from Calais to Dover

[@alexalston3001]

80’s and 90’s best time to be alive 👍🏻

[@jenniferdechantal1523]

Banksters ruined everything w the great heist of 2008. 🙏🏼

[@donnatibby7978]

I crossed the English Channel 6 times a day on one of these magnificent beasts ! I was a “ Purserette “! What a job title ! Such great memories ❤️Princess Margaret and Princess Anne were powered by 4 Rolls Royce engines ( Rule Britannia!) and the cheap fuel was kerosene ❤️

[@marilynosterhout5650]

This was one of the amazing parts of our trip... It was exciting.. and fun. I'm so thankful it was still in use when we went to England...

[@jeremyhaines4481]

I 💘 loved the hovercraft great times x

[@Wanderlinse]

I always enjoyed crossing the channel with these hovercrafts!

[@italianxstallion]

Incredible machine wish I could see one in action

[@dorindatodd123]

I've been on a hovercraft doing that route at around midnight in a massive storm the hovercraft was full an me and my friend Maureen and the hostesses where the only ones not throwing up so we helped look after whoever we could. We'd been on a school trip the waves where do high at times it seemed they were jumping over us front to back and side to side also we were jumping the waves. The captain halfway to Dover had to decide whether to carry on or go back the decision was made carry on we were halfway and we all wanted to be back home in the UK. We arrived back at school to be met by our parents at around 3 in the morning. We were then told by the headteacher we weren't expected in the morning at school to which we told him in no uncertain terms that after what we'd been through we had no intention of being in school anyway. The head was informed by the staff that had been with us what Maureen and I had done to look after everyone and that the crew were really impressed and thankful to us.

[@atomsmash100]

These really were incredible machines. A shame they no longer operate. Crossing the channel was nowhere near as comfortable as the chunnel train service is today, but it was faster.

[@maestegboyo]

Hoverspeed did a fantastic job! Really good workforce , probably the fastest way from Dover to Calais.

[@passiton3801]

I went to France by Hovercraft in the 90s. However coming back it was a bit rough. What they don't tell you: that in rough seas it acts like a boat!

[@michelmackowiak2379]

j'en ai pris un en 1974. Monstrueux et impressionnant ,très bruyant mais rapide.

[@JasonJason210]

We used these almost every year when I was. Kid. Strange to think that something I took for granted was actually a rare and remarkable era in the history of my country. It's a poignant remind of Britain's decline.

[@proefpa]

+JasonJason210 Same thing Here. Greets from belgium

[@juliemclean4871]

JasonJason210 much less bovver. x

[@YAUUN]

Great pity they decided it was uneconomical to replace the turboprops

[@KurtMCox]

Nothing to do with decline. Ever heard of the groundbreaking (excuse the pun) channel tunnel?

[@idgaf5252]

You fail to recognize that channel tunnel is the largest tunnel in the world and the most expensive single construction in the world

[@firesurfer]

I was on this in the early 80s on a bicycle. I had to go up the car ramp with 30 pounds of gear in my panniers. People watching were quite amused because I had to go back further to get a run up to the ramp. Just barely made it up. I nearly upchucked on board.

[@fearthebeard722]

The vomit comet!! We could hear the hovercraft coming into port from 7 miles away in eythorne….so nostalgic, but preferred the ferry service!

[@denism6271]

Que de souvenir j'habite le Portel au niveau des quais on l'enttandais arriver ce monstre des mer a 11H00 du matin tapant!

[@fionnaaragazza7777]

Pourquoi ils ont arrêté avec ?

[@cargoships]

The ship is so strange, I've never seen it before ❤❤❤

[@matt1981bav]

Today no Hovercraft, no Concorde anymore. We are moving backwards.

[@trudycremers3392]

Woooooow a hover craft!

[@denism6271]

Hovercraft Portelois ! ☺

[@MAT29]

hovercraft is my favorite boat !!!

[@donotserorator]

I did travel on one or two..but they were.., for a passenger very noisy and a constant smell of fuel in the passenger cabin made a lot of people quite nauseous. She could not travel when seas where rough and regretfully she drank fuel like no tomorrow,hence her demise.But Christopher Cockerell was very proud and so he should be now, and in the past Regards Chris...East Sussex..England..UK

[@HoneyBrasco]

What does 08 stand for? The month?

[@kakaphotos]

There was no real danger of capsizing, despite the huge waves, but some people were panicking. It was a wild ride. Kinda fun, actually :)

[@louiselage7740]

If you were on the same Hovercraft that I was in August 1989, I remember that crossing well...I will never ever forget that! I have never seen waves that high in my life!

[@aswclassicsiow8588]

These were built on the Isle of Wight at BHC in East Cowes

[@elliottengland9525]

I worked on this fantastic machine, you try serving orange juice on a tray, sadly it was the cigarette and cheap seat flyers that kept it going.

[@JRizzle86]

They are sitting at the Hovercraft museum, Lee On Solent near Fareham. You can spot them on google maps.

[@russellwilliams6432]

Had the pleasure of working on these for one season and oh what a laugh,,Never seen so much sick but then I was on the car deck and the poor Strewardesses that had to clean that up,,Best job I ever had

[@mollymalone7081]

So many passengers still do when travelling in rough seas from Portsmouth to France, and screaming like kids. I find it so amusing, and fascinating to see the ship go down beneath the waves, and then up, and that feeling of just dropping into the ocean.

[@yaslerfuj]

i was just on the L.C.A.C today it was so awesome

[@ZakWolf]

OK, who came here from "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown?"

[@ericphantri96734]

If replace air with water then it would lift higher and carry more load and making customer love it

[@ufoengines]

So Cool!

[@fairplaynationalist2]

It was the fastest ever way to get your car from Englnd to France. Even the channel tunnel is slower as it has a speed restrictions for the trains which had to run from a train station to station while the hovercraft parked on a concrete beach. Problem was it always subject to cancellation in bad weather.

[@astrobizzleboy]

this is incorrect. the crossing time with a hovercraft was approximately 55mins whereas the channel tunnel takes approximately 35mins. also you don’t have to drive all the way to the port for the tunnel crossing. both have/had boarding procedures that take/took similar amounts of time.

[@Asserti]

Could you take the car on the hovercraft?

[@jackiellewellyn7841]

It was cancelled just before my school trip to France. Why was that then?

[@fionnaaragazza7777]

I'm French, and wonder why they stopped using it.

[@swilleh_]

​@@fionnaaragazza7777loud, some said uncomfortable over waves, uses a lot of fuel and high maintenance costs. While it's still faster than the euro tunnel by 5~ minutes it didn't have the capacity to compete with the euro tunnel. There is a video documenting it on KZbin if you are still interested in it.

[@mahfujansari5305]

लाजवाब है।

[@jasper9291]

That can’t be real. It’s like something out of science fiction.

[@standrewpics]

I think the propellers went the speed of sound that created all that noise . Could hear the hovercraft a good few miles away from Dover. I genuinely think the hovercraft where more successful then the vomit commits catamarans that replaced the hovercraft , they did not last as long.

[@Gportuga7467]

Was coming day much Ned

[@clonSanG]

I did hear that it drank a serious amount of fuel and wasnt cost effective

[@danseh5159]

You heard correctly

[@hans2406]

Jim Goose Fuel efficiency depends largely on the price of fuel, I guess.

[@VehicularBrit]

Not quite... fuel efficiency is how much work gets done, for the amount of fuel put in. The price of fuel would determine the running costs.

[@horsenuts1831]

Watch the video - a fuel tanker arrives on the left very quickly after it arrives. LOVELY machines, very expensive to run, terrible to ride in, can't see anything out of the windows, but fantastically exciting. Wish I could go in one again - but it won't happen due to Brexit Gammons who hate Europe.

[@mrfrost3]

Why it's called Concorde of the sea

[@matthewking5612]

The Captain & F/O were on £90,000 a year. That's why it failed 🧐 Drivel, it was higher oil prices and competition from the catamarans.

[@KarlHeinzSpock]

i remember the noise when they started the engine while i was standing beside one of these giants. but then, when it started to lift and to move, it got even louder and louder, felt like someone displacing your bones.....like a door to hell is opened..... but inside, it was very comfortable: felt like flying above the waves at speed of about 110km per hour, looking down to all those slow moving ordinary ships and ferries..... very impressive experience....

[@nawalkumarkewat5818]

amazing ship awesomr

[@bobotte3084]

Thats one big boy

[@Beatwolf]

sorry I was misinformed. I thought I read somewhere that there were in general too many accidents with hovercrafts, but as you say and I can see on wikipedia this wasn´t the case although there have been some. I have never been on one, would love too though. There is still an active service though called Hovertravel operating on the Isle of Wight so maybe I will ride one someday.

[@BlackAce-zr2ms]

A late comment for myself, but on the left side forward propellers? How come they're odd.. I thought this livery had white blades anyway rather than black with yellow tips? Just an observation 😄

[@jpx1967]

C'est impressionnant ça existe encore ?

[@juxbertrand]

Comme un débarquement britannique. Propre et net :))

[@scopex2749]

WHY they didnt build new models of these I dont know way faster than the channel tunnel or ferry!

[@davidpfol]

HIighly unefficient, but impressive

[@Tomsonx232]

Where do they keep the horses?

[@fionnaaragazza7777]

Pourquoi ils l'ont arrêté ? 1h30 c'est long. Why did they stop it ? 1h30 it is long.

[@scaredyet]

I would shit myself if I saw this

[@italianxstallion]

that sounds awesome I am jealous lol

[@elpeupledemojito7330]

Lemurdan gelenler

[@elpeupledemojito7330]

@X_HACKER-TÜRK_X EMİRHAN jsjsjsjs

[@steelproducer]

beeeen smmsksk 😂

[@seyitcakr4842]

oha ben

[@stewartgrindlay9760]

Could cars go as freight???

[@numbat0072]

why were they introduced ( what is their advantage over a ferry ? ) & why were they retired ?

[@swilleh_]

much faster than a ferry. High costs, euro tunnel. KZbin has a video about.

[@Beatwolf]

Hoverspeeds/boats rule!!

[@polo5534]

Voilà un gadget qui devait consommer du carburant à crever😮

[@Beatwolf]

I think there were numerous accidents with them

[@Hazza4257]

are those propellers even closed in!?

[@ianevans67]

Liam Harris No they were open and 19 feet diameter so you wouldn't want to be standing on the top of it.

[@sdbhnmgghjk4782]

donliddard was making videos before KZbin! !! LOL!!!

[@bledibledi5877]

british number one on sea.

[@clobbyhops]

who built this beast?

[@BlackAce-zr2ms]

Saunders Roe, its initials give the game away instantly Clobby :) SRN.4 (Saunders Roe Nautical.4)

[@RydeHover]

Saunders Roe ,East Cowes, Isle of Wight, England. Some times known as BHC (British Hovercraft Corporation)

[@mikeycbd]

My parents use to take me to see that when i was a kid, never did go on it. :-(

[@felixarango6618]

WOW

[@meherbabagod3732]

💖💖❤❤💘💘

[@Alexela56]

It produced so much noize no indoor?

[@behnamasid]

This reminds me of red alert 2.

[@lordwallie24]

in calais there happy

[@user-of4ew6gy6g]

ˊ這個我小時候坐過

[@manofweed1]

They ride on air but they bump and crash down like they were riding on concrete.

[@stefanproject253]

KEREN

[@tg6787]

Hovercraft calais

[@emansulaeman1761]

Jacki chan😄

[@donliddard]

thanks for that info just watched the Jacki Chan video

[@claudioalvesmanga]

MUITO LOCO

[@josephastier7421]

Looks like some monster that Russia would build.

[@ohlawd3699]

FUN FACT: YOU CAN ACTUALLY LET IT DRIVE OVER YOU AND YOU WON'T DIE. IT'S PERFECTLY SAFE FOR KIDS. 😃👍

[@EurocanarionEuro]

Cool...Gran Canaria . com

[@iledoffard]

Still going strong to & from the Isle of Wight! kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3vMqXmkhZyNsKs

[@PaulMansfield]

not this one, the IoW craft are much smaller, foot passengers only

[@mollymalone7081]

Correct. The last time I saw this one was in Hove, in moth balls.

[@haditjandradjaja8403]

ASK CHINA TO RESSURECT IT.

[@sethseth7077]

Buj

[@larrysingleton2864]

Same as the one in the Charles Bronson movie "Someone Behind the Door". kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGLYdGtvmaybrJI And I am so sick and tired of this piece of shit Google.

[@TranceTrousers]

There is still a regular hovercraft service from Portsmouth to Ryde on the Isle of Wight. I went on it for the first time in years this summer with my daughter.

[@sdlcman1]

I took the Hovercraft once from Calais to Dover back in the 70's. It was fast but not pleasant. The vibration was such you couldn't get out of your seat. On the regular ferries, you could pass the time by strolling around on deck or sitting in a bar or restaurant. Very pleasant.

[@rabbastern]

Wir vermissen es so sehr - oft sind wir damit von Calais nach Dover und zurück. Es war immer ein einmaliges Erlebnis. Schade!

[@spacegarnaal]

First time i went to england. my parents took me and my brother to this beast. It has been the most awesome experience i've ever had in my life. Just the size, we drove our car in there and went to the seats. nearly crapped my self when it was rising up

[@gonzobrains]

wow! memories. thanks for sharing!

[@frglee]

It's very sad when the future becomes the past.

[@samanli-tw3id]

frglee Just like Concorde or Space Shuttle

[@eurodestination]

Excellent stuff. Thanks for making the effort to get this online. Brings back great memories.

[@kipwright4735]

travelled on it once as a boy, also had the airfix model SRN4!! brilliant

[@irsute8833]

It really was. I loved it when I was a kid, it was crazy to see it approaching. Kinda scary also. I wish they would find a way to use it again.

[@niburmada5366]

Eine super Technik...auch heute noch...👍📹👍👋👋👏👏