Americans React: The UK’S Hovercraft Ferry Service – This is Awesome!

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In this video we react to the UK hovercraft ferry service that runs between the Isle of Wight and the mainland near Portsmouth. This is the first time either of us has ever seen a hovercraft and we’re shocked at just how large and how fast these hovercraft ferries are. It’s incredible to see the hovercraft in action and learn how it works. This UK hovercraft company, Hovertravel, is the worlds only year round passenger hovercraft service and we would definitely like to experience this when traveling in southern England.

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Welcome back to the channel guys my name is Steve this is my wife Lindsay and today we’re going to be reacting to something really interesting Lindsay doesn’t really know what we’re going to be R into except for what you can see on the screen obviously it’s about hovercrafts but the interesting thing

About this hovercraft or this hovercraft service we’re going to be looking at is that in the UK in the ol of white they actually have a public hovercraft service like a fairy like a fairy yeah and I was thought H crafts were fake I didn’t know they were a real thing I

Don’t know anything about hovercrafts which is another reason I wanted to check this out someone recommended this to me and uh I just thought this would be really interesting I’ve seen hovercrafts like maybe in like a cartoon or something like that yeah that’s maybe that’s why I thought they were fake

Right right but I’ve never seen a Hovercraft in person I I don’t I’ve never seen like a real hovercraft yeah I don’t even really know exactly how they work but um I just think this is something really interesting because I know that from what I understand like a

Hovercraft you know has the big fans on the back I’m sure you can picture that has like the big fans on the back and they like it almost like a raft right right and like looks like it’s like half blimp or like it’s got air under the

Bottom like like a ra in tube kind of right that’s the picture I have in my head and I don’t know where that comes from which sounds kind of scary on the ocean but I’ve been wanting to check out the ISA white for some time but I don’t

Think we’re really going to be seeing a lot of Al White on this video because this is about the hovercraft supposedly this person is going to be flying a modern hovercraft and I guess by flying they don’t really mean flying I mean they’re going to be on the water but

Like I said I don’t know anything about it we don’t you don’t know anything about hovercraft but I think this would be really interesting um but yeah this is a public hovercraft service like a fairy so yeah so don’t know what to expect guys so we’re just going to dive

In and by the way I’m sure you can still hear we’re still dealing with the laryngitis I do not know how long this is going to last I’m so ready for this to go because it’s it’s very aggravating because I I can’t seem to get my voice

To be full bodied so it’ll be okay yeah it’ll be there but all right guys uh let’s go ahead and check out how to fly a modern Hovercraft in the UK so we’re in south sea we’re now going to go across to the island I said we we know

We are going to the watch today I said we would be so we’re going on the on the hovercraft and I I sent in advance an email to Steven behind me there he’s he’s hiding there he is who’s the media guy for hover travel and he’s arranged

Us to come barriers to get some decent footage of the hovercraft coming up and everything so uh absolutely fantastic but it’s due to arrive I think shortly stepen isn’t it now about 20 12 should be here it’s going to be flying up the beach here literally so this is the only what you

Say Ste the O the only the only year round commercial passenger hovercraft service in the world in the world wow that’s why it was recommended year this is the only year round passenger service hover wait I just said the only yearr round passenger hover craft service in

The world wow and so it’s like a it’s like a year- round fairy to go from the aisle of white I guess to where do you say it was right now South South Sea I don’t know where that is but maybe we’ll have to look that up I wonder why this

Would be more beneficial than just a fairy it looks fast do you not have fuel well you probably have fuel unless they maybe maybe there’s some I mean think about it you’re powering something but like I I it just looks fast look look how fast that that was coming fast we

Get people coming from around the world to see it yeah is this is this uh they made in the UK obviously it’s a British invention isn’t it but they were made in Southampton oh really and those ones I was talking to you about they being made even closer in porchester oh

Really I heard that the HRA was a British V yeah they’re building those ones there so yeah it’s it’s great cuz it was invented in Britain made and manufactured designed in Britain and now it’s operated and maintained in Britain that’s what we like what do they run on

Then are they diesel diesel two turbo diesels yeah okay man engines from Germany and most of the PO is in lifting it up is it or well I the split changes yeah okay because how they they they they actually fly that would be a pilot question once once you’ve got it lifted

And then the the skirt the rubber bit the black bit is holding that air in yeah then we’ve got no friction yeah and it’s very easy to move then what happens is the power fans move it yeah the fans so the lift fans it literally looking for thrust theyve got sounds

Like they’ve got rders to steer it and then they start moving along and the quot quotes from the pilots I get up it’s like driving a Land Rover on Ice yeah really the braking is increasing the friction right so you there is no break is that so they reduce the hover

Do they yeah theyed they reduce the hover so it’s not not as slippery if you like exactly that so I’ve done an emergency stop in one of these on the sea yeah it almost dropped just literally they take all the air they’ve got vents that allow it to escape even

Quicker they cut the fans and then they open these Vents and it literally goes and stop it’s buoyant anyway the whole thing floats without yeah fls it’s like a boat it’s like an Alum boat interesting how many are there are there two we have two but so it’s like a boat

It’s like a boat raft plane or something wow see that’s wild okay one one in service at the moment moment on hourly y you can roughly see yeah that it’s it’s going to aim up that’s the center line here that okay it’s going to be you can

Roughly see where the wetest patch of it’s going to come yeah yeah it’s going to sit here oh it comes on yeah yeah of course not as loud as they used to be what Z five rules is it does the pilot know that pilot Helmsman

Is he a pilot a pilot does he know we’re going to be here at all he knows we’re going to be here we’ yeah yeah so it won’t come as a surprise come as surpr yeah it’s got to be big from the island look at the PS we actually run a

Blue light service for the NHS so they ambulance to us we get on the craft there’s nobody else on that craft stretch on W so it’s an kind of an the way across the by far isn’t it beat the air ambulance we can go quicker than the that’s

Inc wow here it comes though look at this oh my goodness we got Union Jack on the front love it that is so cool man massive I can’t believe how big it is and it comes up on the look at that wow that is awesome here it come that’s VI oh my

Goodness dude that’s insane wow all right I want to look at this thing real quick I am just an a that’s crazy it come up on the pavement dude I would so ride this does it have wheels I don’t no it don’t have wheels well then

How do they get back out maybe they reverse the fan oh the FL and then it pulls you instead of put I don’t know for sure I’m just saying that probably makes sense I mean it could I I would imagine had Wheels it would make sense that’s crazy are those people inside or

They just empty seats I’m sure there’s people so I wonder what this is is that a diesel tank N I can that wouldn’t make much sense look how big the fans are though dude this would be a blast to ride to drive or to fly yeah would you like to ride in this

I mean it would be okay mean it’ be okay I just don’t like the ocean very much so but it would be I mean like some I don’t think this is the ocean I think this is a sound still the ocean um I don’t know Fort White I’m trying to picture where

That’s at is I mean yeah ol of white is down like South oh from what I understand I was thing in North is it I think I don’t really know what the look that I believe it’s down south um but uh down like down near the English Channel

Somewhere if I’m not mistaken if I’m not mistaken let us know in the comments guys but we’ll probably check that out but this is really really cool man it is it’s not what I pictured at all no this is this is this is insane so this is

Like a fairy obviously you can’t carry like cars and stuff on it but w wow h.com wow wow oh cuts the power and it sinks oh it’s it’s okay there you go guys I promise you a hovercraft there’s a hovercraft dude that is so wild amazing

I sinking down so it is it’s like a boat plane on a raft that thatat because we like to that you can drive up on yeah you would think that would tear up the2 I wonder what that’s made of a little light ey noise they they’ll did

The passengers come out the front then did they okay yeah you you to come out the side side that’s right yeah I thought the passenger would come out that door right there yeah go back to when they were originally done you used to climb in through the front that’s

Right the very first one yeah yeah would have been that same it was I went on those real hat the hatch of the front yeah a little hatch yeah and then it was at the side near the rear I think was it yeah and then that’s the latest one so

The old ones used to have like little chimneys that used to on the front right so what’s replaced that then those are called B thrusters Yeah we actually had B thrusters on the original design of this version right and the pilots found that they didn’t need them oh so they’re

Just removed they used to be for maneuverability so obviously you got you got Runners and the thing the back did that but they wanted extra bit of them don’t need them they’re too very good oh my goodness imag completely depletes you have to have been responsible for a vessel see for watches

And then you come and train with us for three months but there are very few we only got we got eight we always say and they love this the pilots to be check but there are more Top Gun Pilots than there are H the elite elite best of the best best of the

Best as I pull away I’m going bu wait does he give it the other field I see now the whole front opened up um Harbor Master and theard crazy will go I mean this is 45 knots easily it’s fast isn’t it really and it’ll go quicker mil hour then not more hour over

5050 M hour that’s incredible isn’t it it’s amazing how easy access isn’t it on this new one I don’t really know like what boats and stuff normally travel how fast they normally go oh wow it’s like an it does it looks just like an airplane wow yeah I would so want to sit

In a window SE F oh they’re going on it yeah well I think they’re said fly in hello oh my gosh this will be so cool look at that look at that turn around your guess is good as mine that is wild is it this is really is it yeah

This is better than the car Fair smooth isn’t it so smooth cuz it’s on a cushion of air yeah cushion of air flying so they’re just floating above the water on a cushion of air on stand I wonder how much it costs 10 minutes to other well consider there’s

Not a ton of them supposed the ROI and you want to go shopping you literally could go over the gun Warf Keys it’s quicker than driving where I live yeah to be honest it’s amazing and I think if you um if you live on the island the amount you pay is

Cheaper than you get a discount much discount rate isn’t it so if you’re in a small dingy or a small sailboat this just goes straight over you just crushes you that’s you turn just go straight through everything bikes in re there was room for the bikes in the middle there there there a

R creep them straight off oh was just there the beach oh my God there’s the other one they got two two uh holoc so now I guess they’re at the four uh service in the winter if they need to put another one on guess and we’re there 10 minutes to

The it’s not easy to get up is it plank check’s always a good I won’t be able to fit up here oh my goodness that is tight I can’t get up can’t get my knees you can do it your head wow I’ll way down here the Pilot’s

Going to come out give us a quick run through so this is a standard Marine radar yeah turn that on you can see what you can see ride here ahead there on the end of the pier um so you got your instruments oh my which are lot to learn visual display

Rather than being that’s left and right engine is it I guess the two yeah um M which I believe the all the two fans they are 1100 horsepower each T turbo I’ll show you those in a minute yeah so that’s the leftand engine uh most important things on there really V are

The water temperature oil pressure that’s the same of both I can go into more depths to look at different things if I’m having a problem the what’s that one electronic chart display okay which is here they got the a of white here yeah you’ve got Gil kicker Portsmouth

Harbor so is that all the way to Hing Island and this tells you where we are and that’s and that tells you where I’ve been okay bit like a black box these are my four Ballance tanks yeah so I can adjust the craft anywhere I you can adjust it different ways

There’s water right and that pumps it around the craft to I do with this ah okay wherever I put that as cool as this all is there’s so many like technologically moving Parts like how much could go wrong you know yeah it just seems like a lot you would have to

Keep up with and worry about where the water is going oh wow so if everybody gets on on a sunny day and they want to look out that side they’ll all Wander over there sit down and look out that side but I can tell um from the cameras

Downstairs which are behind you where they’re sitting ni the commuters like to sit the front seats so that they’re first on in their seat first off whereas day Trippers will tend to go for the windows and people who aren’t interested just sit at the back but I can see where

They are before I leave that’s very important because if you lift up when you’re trimmed very heavily by the stern then the craft will just drag go that way it it has to be on an even K so you have before you set off your chip re seated and adjust the ballast

Accordingly and then as soon as I lift up I’m adjusting again adjusting again a little bit wow wow um so we’re we’re we’re continuously moving ballast around if we’re into a heavy sea I might lift the bow slightly more than normally would that’s so cool you have that kind

Of control this thing that is so much more control than you have in a situation better to be trimmed um standard is about a degree half a degree by the stern right over here I’ve got my pumps hydraulic pumps for the steering gear same as an aircraft me

With these pedals okay so that that’s the the rudder is it that’s how they bicycle with their feet if you want to turn right you push right right if you do that on a bicycle you go left yeah yeah okay and they’re driving the eight Rudders that you see there moving oh I

See I can see it yeah I see that dve interesting wow system thing I got effectively eight different types yeah because I’ve got two sets of Rudders I’ve got a tiller that I can steer by or I can use pedals so that makes it four and then I’ve got a secondary system for

Both it makes it eight right so there are eight possibilities of maintaining steering which is yeah yeah a very necessary backup wow I didn’t whe was you an adjustable pitch from the blades that’s really interesting I guess you can drive asymetrically you have one going ahead and one going a St

So the craft will turn into be F job way to do yeah it would and I’m wondering though how hard they have to work to recruit people because like if it’s really you know it seems like a very Niche my guess is with something this Niche you’re not just going to be able

To go out and find hovercraft Pilots anywhere I’m saying so how do they ensure they have enough they probably I’m guessing they probably would go to find people that have are already been boat captains or maybe even airplane pilots and then they train them to operate these that would be my guess uh

They bring them into and they Ride Along for a while and train somehow or I don’t know maybe they got some sort of like school or something here but supposedly there’s not a lot of these and I don’t think there are a I mean I’ve never even

Seen a hovercraft before so like I I can’t imagine there’s a ton of these it’s a very local right seems like especially for a especially for like a a fair public fairy service like this I I would think it’d be very like you said very Niche so I

Wonder drift yeah of course well with B thrusters you can reverse them um and then just power against to turn it around almost here we’ve got really other information that we don’t necessarily yeah use on the Craft um it’s it’s Direction it’s wind speed yeah um engine start Keys the two goiz monit

Just can’t imagine having the mental capacity no all these functions and but yeah I think it’s like anything though after a long years of doing this second nature it would over oh absolutely when you’re in in motion going long are you constantly correcting ballast are you constantly adjusting the pitch on the

Blade steering so it’s almost like is really like a helicopter where you’re constantly giv input to keep it headed in the right Direction um to be able to steer with your feet means both hands are free yeah and they need to be because there’s so much comt going on Wow ballasting and

Trimming and adjusting on these panels and na instruments the these are these are wander away so at night you’d have both of those on your knees so what are they used for then this is Marine radar okay detecting objects in the dark yeah and this is where we are I wonder if

They operate the we follow so we put we put put in a route before we leave they have lights in the front and that would show you on there and if you if you come off it it will alarm so you got you’re sticking on

That and it will tell you how to rectify it’ll give you a cross track error and wow wow that was incredible that was really cool yeah it was that I want to go back and see the the wow look at that thing man like I

Said this is my first time ever seen a hovercraft like this I’ve never yeah I’ve never known anything about hovercrafts really except that they had those big fans on the back um beyond that I I I never expected they had a fairy service with a hovercraft like

This no but I would totally do this this looks like a lot of fun and it would be a really cool experience and I could see the advantage if you lived locally there oh absolutely of doing that versus driving while you might not be able to

Drive um well you you probably at least take a traditional fairy with your boat yeah I mean with your with your uh with your car on a ferry um but I’m guessing that is much slower than this this would be a very quick way to go from I guess

Is the aisle of white I’m guessing that’s an island a of white uh so to go to the mainland would probably uh that’s probably a very quick way to do that compared to a ferry if you didn’t need need your own car with you yeah um but

Uh I totally I I we got to look into where the olive white is MM actually I won’t do that now okay you want to let’s do that all right guys so we got the a of white pulled up here where’s is that it y yep there it is

So he was at South Sea mhm so it must have been something like this right here so okay oh that’s oh that’s a interesting it’s just a very small island mhm in the English Channel right off the southern coast I thought it was in the South I just wasn’t exactly sure

Where it was time we’re going to check out the out of white some point but uh guys great video learned a lot uh obviously uh had no idea there were you know like I said public hovercraft service this is the only one this year round yeah and looks like they only have

A couple of hovercrafts but uh definitely something I would en enjoy doing if I was down in the area and this is definitely an area we will visit at some point in the UK so maybe we will go there cuz that would be really cool I mean we’re definitely planning on coming

Down on this area at some point so um definitely blast I I think it’d be a lot of fun um but you got think you want to add before we go looks like looks like a very very complicated thing to fly for sure oh yeah to be one but um yeah guys

Would you call it a captain or a pilot I think they call a pilot and yeah I know let us know is that a pilot or C I think it’s a pilot but also guys let us know in the comments if you’ve ever gone on this particular service is the only

Public covercraft Service year round in the world and it’s probably one of just a few you in general because I don’t think hovercrafts are really that popular they don’t seem to be so let us know if you’ve been on this service or if you’ve ever been on any other

Hovercrafts how is it it looks like it’s smooth it looks like it’s a fast way to travel yeah um and and definitely something I’d enjoy doing at some point but uh guys thank you so much for stopping by please click that like button feel free to drop your comments

Or suggestions about this video others and don’t forget to subscribe to continue to follow us on our journey to discover our British and Irish ancestry I think my voice is worse day than it was yesterday for some reason it just keeps on going back and forth but uh

Hopefully it’ll get better in the next few days but anyways guys thank you so much for stopping by till next time peace bye