The hovercraft that kept on going

Southsea, England CNN — On October 1, 2000, the skirts of Princess Anne and Princess Margaret deflated for the final time. “There’s a gentleman who comes for the Isle of Wight Festival,” Frost says, “He comes from Australia and he only uses the hovercraft because he loves it.” Japanese tourists are also known to come out of their way to marvel at these oddball amphibious craft. A fearless pioneer, Cockerell also took the hovercraft on its first ever Channel crossing – bravely pacing around the outside of the SR.N1 for the duration of the voyage, acting as “dynamic ballast.” Choosing coastal Hampshire for much of the testing – not to mention building hovercraft at Saunders-Roe in Cowes – Cockerell essentially turned the Solent into “Hover Country,” and it never really looked back. “The hovercraft was built in the area, invented in the area, and I think that’s got quite a bit of influence on why the Isle of Wight craft is still running successfully,” says Barkley. “There’s a great future out there for it, and I hope it will see many other operators like ourselves worldwide,” says Attrill, who in 1998, headed up the team that established the first passenger hovercraft service in Canada.