I used to enjoy them, and seeing them running off the sea onto the land was always impressive.
They were much quicker than the ferry but by the time you take account of all the formalities plus boarding and departing there was not a big time difference.
One time I took the ferry and there was a big storm, most of the passengers were throwing up, not really a pleasant trip.
If, when you drive on, they start lashing down the cars then you know you are in for a bumpy ride.
I’ve crossed the channel a few times in a 29ft boat (no, I’m not an illegal immigrant) but it makes most rough ferry crossings pretty docile.
I worked on the Prinz Hamlet. The “England ferry” that ran from Hamburg to Harwich.
Hoo Boy, did we ever have some rough rides on that thing….
Like the 22hour voyage taking 60 hours, like everything that could break, broken. Like I know that cows can throw up and how loud sea sick pigs can squeal.
You should write a book mate, you’ve lived more lives that most of us combined.
Yeah! It’s been a fun ride up to now.
Just been amusing myself saying that loud and fast a few times.
I went on that once.
The sick bags (unused) had a distinct smell which I can still recall now.
I used to see it a lot coming out of Parkeston quay as we had a boat moored up the Stour for a bit.
Ramsgate-Calais hovercraft and Hoverspeed from Dover to Calais were definitely for cars as well as foot passengers. Had a very tough crossing on the latter Christmas 1981, thought I was suffering from seasickness for the first time in my life but nope… #2 son making his presence known.[quote=“MedeaFleecestealer, post:1, topic:140477, full:true”]
Just wondering how it works in practice as we may need to use it if we go over to the UK this month or next. I know you can book tickets in advance, but what happens when you actually get to Calais or Folkestone? What about passports, customs, etc? How much time do you need to allow for these before boarding? Anywhere to get a snack, go to the toilet, etc?
[/quote]
Sorry, didn’t intend to quote Medea…
No idea why that happened.
The best trips were the ones from the UK to Hamburg. Being used to the 10:00 last orders in British pubs the guests were delighted to find that the bars were open until two…
However it meant that the Brits were totally ransacked by half past nine and chaos ensured. On these trips the Cells were used quite often.
I went on a Hoverlloyd SR.N4. They later merged with Seaspeed to become Hoverspeed.
They added a middle section to later ones so they could carry more cars and passengers, in an endeavour to make them more viable cost-wise.
I was transfixed by hovercraft as a kid and actually going on one was a dream come true!
One of the Mountbatten class has survived and is now in the Hovercraft museum at Lee on Solent.
