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It's 60 years since the British inventor Christopher Cockerell demonstrated the principles of the hovercraft using a cat food tin and a vacuum cleaner. Great things were promised for this mode of transport, but it never really caught on. Why?
The hovercraft slides down a concrete ramp and into the Solent. Its engines, propellers and fans hum as it crosses from Southsea, in Hampshire, to Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, travelling 4.4 nautical miles in under 10 minutes.
The journey is more than twice as quick as the catamaran from Portsmouth to Ryde and more than four times as quick as the Portsmouth-to-Fishbourne ferry.
For that matter, why haven't hydrofoils caught on?
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What Happened to Passenger Hovercraft?
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Either I'm dead or my watch has stopped.
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(Score: 1) by orasio on Wednesday November 11 2015, @06:17PM
Ferries got faster.
The fastest Montevideo-Buenos Aires ferry takes just above two hours to make 200km. It has a top speed of 56 knots, north of 100kph
http://www.safety4sea.com/how-fast-is-the-wolrds-fastest-ship--17586 [safety4sea.com]
Also, it's just a regular ship, no fancy tech. It can move 900 people very comfortably, cars, everything, and a very smooth ride. That's way better that what you can do with current hovercraft technology.
I think this is mostly because now we have materials strong and light enough to make a catamaran-style ship at a reasonable cost, but I'm no expert.