Now in Glorious 4K! UK passenger hovercraft from Calais France to Dover. Hoverspeed. Wow.

Not planned but I ended up coming back on the Hoverspeed one trip. I have crossed the channel on ferry, hydrofoil (pretty much everyone on the boat puked but me) and of course the Chunnel but this trip was the most fun. Too bad it ended, it was worth the 98 quid!
From wikipedia: The Princess Anne (built 1968): built by British Hovercraft Corporation for Seaspeed and stretched in 1977. Transferred to Hoverspeed on creation of the company in 1981. Withdrawn in 2000. Currently at the Hovercraft Museum at HMS Daedalus. en.wikipedia.o...

[@adamfrbs9259]

The size of that is astonishing, I had no idea it was THAT big. Awesome!

[@MrAckers75]

No more hovercraft and no more Concorde …..we truly have gone backwards

[@garelalexandre3252]

we have eurostar , its something that tunnel

[@davidwebb4904]

Riding the hovercraft wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience. It was noisy, and you couldn’t see out the windows at all.

[@garelalexandre3252]

@@davidwebb4904was faster than ferries , it was the main goal

[@noelht1]

And no more going to the moon

[@Dogsgrove]

OH GIVE OVER !!! What tripe

[@No.Handle31]

I used to love watching these when I was a kid. When they started up they used to shoot fire.

[@toddschmidt206]

I made that trip in the early 80’s on a hovercraft they were very cool

[@mjwmontgomery]

Been on it many times as a child.

[@Adam-g6c6h]

We still have the Hovercrafts between Portsmouth and the isle of Wight

[@Inthegroove2024]

Yearly trips on the Hovercraft back in the late 70's, early 80's. I remember you couldn't see a thing out of the windows for all the spray but i was allowed a coke for the journey so couldn't of cared less!! good times

[@redkelly1188]

Thank you for posting Its history

[@spider23000]

So weird. I was well aware of these hovercraft as a kid, I remember my father telling me about going on one in the 70s. But I always assumed they'd been consigned to the history books years before. I watched this video today, heard Everything but the Girl playing at the end, and assumed the video was fake because that song was too recent. Didn't realise until today that they remained in service right up to 2000. I was 14 then. Wish I'd have known.

[@BaylyFamily]

Great comment. Thanks.

[@pompeyjim]

You can still take a Hovercraft from Portsmouth to Ryde, Isle of Wight if you wanted to go on one. I believe it's the only passenger hovercraft in the world.

[@spider23000]

@@pompeyjim forgot about that (and I went to uni in Portsmouth). I'm not taking it today with what they charge for it though.

[@pompeyjim]

@@spider23000 Yes the price is disgusting. I think crossing the solent is actually the most expensive sea crossing in the world per mile.

[@davejordan3131]

Amazing to watch, sadly never got to go on one , but did ride on condors a few times they where amazing, the country has gone backwards with sea crossing

[@JamesBoz]

Thanks for sharing. I rode this as a young child and it was an amazing, futuristic adventure!

[@LianSmith-e8e]

Lush makes me blush

[@mtickner]

Unfortunately it was the revenue from Duty-free sales that kept these viable. When that stopped, the business model collapsed.

[@gwx_studio]

When did u record that?

[@BaylyFamily]

Fall of 99. I think they stopped the service in 2000.

[@lordstevens121]

Amazing sea craft. Capacity, scale and fuel costs killed it.

[@elmehdiboumlic6565]

👍👍👍👍

[@noelht1]

If I win the lottery, I’m going to get that one out of the museum restore it back to serve and I’m going to fly down to North Sentinel Island, where those tribes people are who haven’t seen any outside people. But I’m gonna paint it up like a massive Dragon first. Just for the Lolz.

[@envitech02]

So dangerous to stand near the hovercraft when it's about to park. That thing can kick out small stones that can kill people. That said, this is a amazing sight. Along with the Concorde, we have truly regressed.

[@alessandroandreuccetti-sx5zg]

we got 4K SRN4 footage before gta 6

[@EVCarGuy]

That didn't look like a smooth/comfortable ride at all!

[@BaylyFamily]

A little bumpy yes. A fun adventure yes.

[@dfolt]

From my judgement, the crossings were only smooth at sea state one. I was on one crossing from Dover to Calais that lasted 90 minutes because of the sea. Some of the passengers on that particular flight swore they'd never again board a hovercraft 😂. Furthermore, the inherent rumbling of the machinery always created a basic level of vibration, rattling etc. But it nevertheless was an exciting form of transport!

[@MrPantss]

Wow I have saved this, must be the only 4k video of these wonderful craft in existence? ❤

[@robertheinrich2994]

if you look closer, it seems to be SVHS or Hi8, meaning 480i, still much better than regular VHS.

[@plopzzzzzz]

Thanks for sharing this It takes me back Was so impressive ❤

[@jm252]

1975 I went on "Swift" and "Sure" Amazing Journeys on both Hovercraft! Fond memories!

[@stephenvalente3296]

Went on this many years ago. Really fast compared to modern ferries.

[@Paws4thot]

They were also THAT NOISY based on watching one coming ashore and landing in Dover from the castle.

[@andrewfalkingham1964]

brings back memories

[@winnied87]

So very intetesting! It combined an aircraft with sea transport. I won't lie I've gotten an intrusive idea about that balloon part popping. What if it deflated? Would the hovercraft navigable as a ferry?

[@RydeHover]

Designed by an Aircraft manufacture , and the craft is 400% bought and would float.

[@alexandrealvesdasilva6040]

Pena que nunca vi um desses no Brasil. 😥🇧🇷

[@Gargamoth]

I really hope engineers are working on an evolution of this hovercraft idea. Smallermore powerful motors, sturdier skirt or a no skirt design.

[@Oddoneout22]

A no skirt design would make it worse That's why they added skirts to hovercraft in the first place

[@Gargamoth]

@@Oddoneout22 More R&D May lead to new technologies that enable a no skirt design.

[@Oddoneout22]

@@Gargamoth that r&d came in form of a skirt to fix the issues of a skirtless design. I would love to see more hovercraft designs but skirtless hovercrafts are just impractical And not efficient.

[@beetrooot1137]

WOW AMASING

[@santana835]

Sapão