Try a hovercraft experience - it's like floating on air!

Nothing can prepare you for the sensations of hovercrafting, as you literally skim over land and even water on a bed of air! We are offering hovercraft driving sessions in personal hovercrafts. They are a lot smaller than the sea-crossing ferry types you might remember, but they do essentially work in the same way.

So how does a hovercraft work?

A hovercraft is totally amphibious (that’s to say it can travel on land and water) and the way it works is ingenious. Unlike your normal ocean-going vessel, there is no propellor in the water. And unlike anything that moves on land, there are no tracks or tyres.

It’s all about fan power with a hovercraft. For example, many of our hovercraft experience operators use Snapper craft by manufacturer Flying Fish. The Snapper has a large fan mounted on the back, powered by a four-stroke petrol engine, fsuch as a 28hp Briggs & Stranton Vanguard engine.

When the fan runs, air is forced in and under the ‘skirt’ of the hovercraft. This literally lifts the whole craft off the surface (be it land or water) and gives you that floating sensation. It’s also the fan that propels the hovercraft forward - at speeds of up to 25mph!

How do you drive the hovercraft?

Now you’re literally up and running, you need to know how to control this fan-propelled machine. As hovercraft driver, you’ll be kneeling in the front of the craft, clutching a handlebar, which has a throttle attached. These are the only controls a personal hovercraft has!

The handlebar serves to steer, but what it actually does is move fins behind the fan, which redirect the air flow the way you want to turn. However, this alone is not enough to take a corner in a hovercraft. You need to use your weight to lift the skirt up a bit and let some of the air out of the opposite side to the direction you want to learn, so essentially you have to really lean into the corners!

The throttle controls the rpm of the fan. The faster it spins, the more air is drawn in and therefore you get more lift and forward thrust - and the faster you go.

No brakes!

Yep, these small personal hovercrafts have no brakes. That means you have to reduce the spin speed of the fan to slow down and eventually stop, which all takes time. Same for the corners. A hovercraft has a huge turning circle, so you need to anticipate the bends and initiate the turn well in advance!

Hovercrafting on water - advanced hovercraft techniques

You really need to get into an advance skills hovercrafting adventure to experience two things: 'Ploughing' and 'Hump Performance'. Ploughing is when you dip the nose into the water and get a rapid deceleration. That can, at best, put you off kilter and, at worst, throw you out of the craft. An experienced hovercraft water racing pilot can recover from this experience and is practically par for the course, especially if you compete.

So what on earth is 'Hump Performance'? This is the 'sweet spot' in the hovercraft experience world, when you transition from floating on water to rising up and riding over the ripple, to glide on that fully inflated cushion of air to literally skim over the water at some speed.

Confused? Curious? No idea what we’re talking about?

Yep, hovercrafting is pretty hard to get your head around. Have a look at this short video of the hovercrafting experience we have in Leicestershire to give you an idea of what you are letting yourself in for on a hovercraft session with Into The Blue!