Spent a week at Loch Fyne with a fellow hovercrafter (Steve). Weather wwas very mixed -everything from flat calm to 50mph+ winds!
3-5/9/10
Annual Severn Treasure Hunt. Weather was excellent Friday and Saturday with blue skies and no wind, Sunday was a bit rainy but low winds so we made a 54 mile trip to the Clifton Suspension bridge in Bristol.
26/8/10
90 mile cruise on the Humber estuary.
23/7/10
Cruise on the River and North Sea at Berwick
29/5/10 to 6/5/10
Annual Scottish hoverin week at Loch Fyne. 15 craft took part this year (it was a long trip for many!). Had quite a few breakdowns (some fatal) in the first few days but things eventually settled down. Weather was excellent apart from one day of rain. Three craft went on an overnight camping trip (should have been 4 but one broke down at the start). Ended up a very late start - it was dark! The night cruise to the beach was spectacular (see vid on home page). And the overnight beach stop was amazing. Spent many hours on the water all week with no craft problems at all
Took the Prospector down to Berwick as a last check before the Scottish Hoverin in two week. Turned out to be a nice days - temp got to 16C compared to 6C easrlier this weeke!. Cruisied up river then along the coast for a bit. Only real problem was that the new heatshiled that I'd added to the exhaust outlet ddn;t work too well (melted a bit of skirt and split a seam!). Trip video on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gahCzxM30HQ&feature=player_embedded
2/5/10
Took my UH18 up to Loch Fyne ready for the annual Scottish Hoverin at the end of the month. The Loch was flat calm and there was no wind so I couldn't resist a little 40 mile solo cruise! Video clip is HERE The UH18 behaved perfectly - I'd forgotten how smooth a cruiser it is on good water!
10/4/10
Time for the annual Hovercraft training weekend - this time it was held just south of Bristol on school playing fields. It was over-subscribed this year - TEN new craft and owners. The Sunday cruise was held on the Severn and passed off without incident.
21/2/10
Weather has been perfect for hovering for the last few weeks but I haven't had the chance to get out since early January (apart from some field testing). Looked good again today so I set off for Berwick. - it was -4C at 10am this morning but slowly warmed up as I got nearer to the coast (ended up at plus 5 ).
The sand launch ramp had a 2ft high pile of river debris (logs, trees and other vegetation) blocking it so I had to pick through it removing any spiky stuff that was stuck into the sand underneath (guaranteed to rip the skirt). Launched and set off up river - still snow on the ground and the wind chill was a bit severe! Stopped for a cuppa and a warm up on an island and had to remove a couple of layers of clothing eventually as it was very pleasant in the sunshine.
Returned back downriver to the bay and set out around the breakwater/pier. Changed my mind once I saw the waves - there was hardly a breath of wind but the waves were piling up onto the beach so a coastal cruise was out
Travelled back up to Loch Fyne in freezing weather and deep snow - the main roads weren't good at all in places.
Cruised around the Loch for a couple of days. The winter scenery was spectacular but the air temperature was below freezing - there wasn't much standing up in the craft going on!
All of the streams flowing into the Lopch were frozen - you could also walk across the marsh areas as the ground was rock hard! The harbour at Lochgilphead was frozen over (salt water) with night time temperatures dipping to -16C.
Travelled up to Loch Fyne for a few days and met Steve and Al. Weather was very nice - sunny and warm so we spent the afternoon hovering around the Loch. Al is building a Surveyor and wanted some hover-experience before finishing his own!
20/03/09
Had a late evening hover around the Loch before returning home - beautiful sunset!
12/4/09
Took a couple of Canadian rugby players on their first hover-trip - upriver from Berwick. Bit windy in the late afternoon and very rough in the harbour.
31/5/09
Just got back from the 2009 Scottish Hoverin on Loch Fyne (again!).
The weather was pretty dreadful for the first few days - high winds and rain. The wind was a south westerly blowing straight up the length of the Loch - by midday the waves were impressive! It didn't stop us thought - we were out hovering every day. We did have an unscheduled stop for a couple of hours after getting caught out by 25mph winds near the top of the Loch. We waited ... and waited ... and waited ... but the wind didn't drop at all so we headed over to the other side (VERY rough crossing - 4-5ft waves with white caps and blown spray). It was no better on the other side so we just had to battle through it for the 12 miles back home.
By Thursday night the weather had improved significantly - 14-18C, blue skies and lower winds so we made the most of it with several long distance cruises. The best was probably a trip to Tarbert via Lochgilphead - I missed the harbour entrance by two miles as it was three miles on the other side of the Loch (at least that's my excuse!!).
14/6/09
Took the Prospector down to Berwick to test out the maintenance fixes after Loch Fyne (I had carb and ignition problems. cruised upriver for a couple of hours past the local boat club regatta.
26/6/09
Met Steve at Loch Fyne again - weather was pretty windy but we got in a good few hours cruising
24/7/09
Travelled down the Southampton Hovercraft Museum for the Hovershow 50 (the 50th anniversary of the first hovercraft channel crossing. The weather was pretty windy during the days (very typical this year!) but we got in some cruises including a solo trip across to the Ilse of Wight (about 5 miles of open water). The return journey was around 8 miles due to navigational issues. The museum had around 20,000 visitors through it's doors on the three day event - it was very busy at times!
14/9/09
Spent three days on Loch Fyne cruising with Steve (Vanguard). We covered over 270 miles!
Trip videos (long!) are on YouTube at
Weather was absolutely perfect apart from a rough spot when returning from the Isle of Bute
Met with Steve today for a cruise on the Forth estuary. I had serious doubts about the whole idea on the drive up there - it was minus 4C and heavy fog . However, the temperature rose to a balmy -0.5C on the last 1/2 mile to the shoreline and then reached a high of 1C in the afternoon - positively tropical It was actually warmer out on the water than on the land - probably due the the higher water temperature "warming" (a relative term!) the surrounding air.
Last Updated on Monday, 05 January 2009 12:28
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Decided that as it was a nice day, sunny and warmish (10C) I would meet with Peter and go hovering up the river. We left Berwick at around 12:30 and had a nice cruise up river going past the highest point I'd reached before (about 25 miles). We had no problems as the river was in full flow (about 5mph current on even the wide bits).
At Kip's insistence, I have to make my first posting today and again, under threat of violence from Kip have to post this link to a preview of a flying...
What's the temperatures at Your part's of the world? I read -18 deg. Celsius, yesterday, not the best temperature for outside activity, unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the...
Hover trip diaries
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- there was hardly a breath of wind but the waves were piling up onto the beach so a coastal cruise was out
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