Flying Fish Hovercraft

Dibnah at Hovercraft Adventures

2010-06-17T12:16:00.001+01:00

Fred Dibnah eyes up his next demolition job in Sandwich.

Round Table Charity Event...

2010-06-17T12:12:00.002+01:00

This event was a charity fund raiser by the guys at round table held at our Sandwich venue. Well done to gareth with the quickest lap of the evening.

OFF FOR FUN IN FINLAND!

2010-06-17T11:51:00.002+01:00

Imagine the lovely setting, A nice log cabin, open fire, Beautiful surroundings and a bright orange Flying Fish. Great fun in Finland...

2 Marlins crated up and ready to go exploring Greenland...

2010-05-26T11:13:00.004+01:00

Swansea university are to use these 2 craft to do geographical surveys in Greenland, Along with a BBC film crew these stunning craft will explore some of the most uninhabitable places on earth! Look out for them on the T.V.

Another great day with Nestle go-free

2010-05-26T11:06:00.002+01:00

Look out for the Nestle go-free vouchers and come play with the fun team at Hovercraft Adventures, Congratulations to Sally with the fastest lap of the day.

Water sport and skirt action...

2010-05-26T11:02:00.001+01:00

Another great day at our hovercross track in the south east...

2010-05-25T00:25:00.000+01:00

Team building exercise at Flying Fish...

2010-05-13T11:30:00.003+01:00

Led by Steve this team building exercise was held at our hovertrack in Sandwick, Kent. For a few of the team it was their 3rd visit just goes to show what fun!. Congratulations to Roger on the fastest lap of the day 52.61seconds. Top stuff.

Come Fly With Us...

2010-05-09T17:38:00.002+01:00

At our venue in Sandwich you can come fly our hover track and pit yourself against friends, family or even complete strangers. Master the art of piloting these amphibious vehicles across land and water, but beware its not as easy as the instructors make it look!!!

The Hobb party...

2010-05-09T17:31:00.002+01:00

A group of friends enjoying the thrill of flying our amazing machines, Congratulations to Tracy the quickest lap of the day. Well done...

Great 12yr old pilot...

2010-05-09T17:22:00.002+01:00

Young Solomen in a pose after showing the elders in his party just how its done.

New Marlin 2 ........

2010-05-03T18:29:00.002+01:00

This craft went to Norfolk to a private customer. The Marlin2 is proving to be the most popular of our range of craft by far and with looks and style like this its no wonder why...

Bananaman at Flying Fish.

2010-05-03T18:15:00.003+01:00

Stag event at Flying Fish Hovercraft where even caped crusaders come to have fun.

Viper Catering

2010-04-26T10:04:00.002+01:00

Hot food and drink available most weekends...

KMFM DJ'S ON A FUN DAY OUT.

2010-04-26T10:00:00.003+01:00

This is Ollie and the guys from KMFM having a blast at our hover track in Sandwich. Calling all Radio DJ's see if your as good as the boys from KMFM and come have fly with Flying Fish.

A new Marlin2 on it's way to join the Fareham fleet...

2010-04-26T09:57:00.003+01:00

Another new Marlin2 heading down to Fareham to join the ever growing fleet of Flying Fish Hovercraft. Look out for them buzzing around the Solent. Paul & Josh, hope you enjoy...

2010-04-26T09:53:00.002+01:00

2010-04-26T09:51:00.004+01:00

2 New F25's going to Max Events in Bristol...

2010-04-25T18:16:00.003+01:00

Stag do's, Birthday parties or corperate events... Flying Fish Hovercraft supplied these 2 F25 craft to Max Events in Bristol to join there ever growing fleet of Flying Fish...

Jonny's Ireland to Scotland hovercraft crossing!

2010-02-03T21:28:00.002Z

Well, we couldn't quite believe it when he told us but when one of our Irish customers called us to say he'd jumped in his Flying Fish Marlin and crossed from Ireland to Scotland.....had a cup of tea and returned home, we were delighted it'd all gone without hitch!

Bearing in mind that a Marlin is only 3.1m long, to take on a 20+ mile open water crossing, on his own and unsupported was quite ambitious but the Marlin took it all in her stride!

Here's the email we received. As you can see, he's delighted with the craft, and delighted with the outcome.

So are we, congratulations on a very impressive feat Jonny! And one which if I'm honest, kind of eclipses the 2008 Channel Crossing that we made from Kent to France!

Hey Ivan,

How’s it going buddy good to hear from you. Yeah I thought I would attempt the crossing but it wasn’t intentional some guys locally here made an attempt at crossing the Irish sea between Donaghadee and Portpatrick in Scotland in a homemade amphibious car and they actually made it although it took them 7 hours. I went out with them and stuck with them for a bit then when I realised I was right out in the middle of the channel so I decided to push on across then had something to eat and came back passing the guys in their car on the way back. The crossing is around 27 miles each way and she did it no problem on one tank of fuel, there was a bit of a swell on mid channel but she coped well with it. Then I was showing off and then I had my mishap, mostly my mistake but I was caught by a strong wind and the arms where a bit pulled out of me after my crossing. Have some pics of the crossing leaving Donaghadee and arriving in Portpatrick, ill send them to you when I get them of my buddy. There is also a pic from the local newspaper. I would never have attempted it in the Hov-Pod I had before the Fish is just so much more stable. Anyway all the damage is fixed and she looks as good as new I didn’t even damage any skirt segments. Going to attempt it again in the spring first on my own then a mate is going to kayak it for charity so ill be accompanying him and we will video the crossing.

Oh yeah you have to take a closer look at the video buddy, you will see I’m wearing a lifejacket, it’s the same colour as my wetsuit, I also have ear plugs that go inside my ears that’s why you can’t see them and it looks cooler lol. You see I also carry a marine band ship to shore radio clipped to my lifejacket and I normally wear goggles but id taken them off cause I couldn’t see through them after the crossing. I grew up round boats mate I would never go out on the sea without a lifejacket.

Thanks Again for an amazing little craft bud, it’s truly outstanding and I’m having great fun with it.

Jonny

Recent Customer Testimonial

2009-07-30T18:37:00.003+01:00

This is a recent email received from another happy (actually, ecstatic!) customer.

For more details of the Flying Fish range, call us for a chat on 01304 829944.

Hi Ivan,

Its ********* here, well I just picked my craft up at the weekend there and I’ve just got home and got straight down on the beach with her. Pardon my French but “Absolutely fan-****ing-Tastic” sorry if you’re a religious man but that had to be said. ***-*** can keep their Plod-Plod it’s not even half the craft.

Many thanks buddy excellent job I’m well happy. There is just one problem though, if I have to explain to one more person where I got it from I will probably make them disappear forever so, with your permission, I have a friend that does vinyl decals and I’d like to put one up either side of her with your website address on it? I won’t do it until I get your permission buddy.

Once again thanks for an excellent craft and if you need my recommendation to anybody just ask mate. I’ve just had it half-way across the mouth of Belfast Lough, which is considered to be one of the roughest stretches of water in the British Isle and she never gave a twitch.

Anyway let me know if it’s ok for me to put the web site address on it mate as I want someone else over here to buy one so I can play with them.

Best

*********

Flying Fish on TV!

2009-07-19T16:04:00.003+01:00

In case you missed us on ITV's 'Countrywise' this week, you can see us online HERE

It was a really good article (in which Ivan was awarded 'Local Hero' status!) and we were delighted that Paul Heiney rose above every media man's desire to say the funniest thing in the world when ending the article .....

"It's a lot less bovver with a hover...."

Brilliant, Funniest hover gag in the world....groan!

Two new craft for the Solent

2009-05-12T15:22:00.004+01:00

Last Saturday Sue and Robert and their son collected their two craft from the Flying Fish works.

Of course Sunday, being a reasonable day, weather wise, they were off onto the water. They then had some learning to do !

But by the end of the day, having been mentored by Chris and Jenny Campbell they all got the hang of it and throughly enjoyed their first outing.

We hope that now we will see them at the various events organised by the hover club and others. Such as the medway Cruises and most especially the Berkley treasure hunt in October.

New Channel club members

2008-12-05T15:32:00.004Z

It is quiet this time of year, and because of that, things get tidied up. And this newspaper cutting has come to light.

It seems that back in 1980 Bodie and Doyle "the professionals" did a channel crossing in a Pindair inflatable hovercraft.

At the time they were the coolist dudes around. And were every young lads idea of what they wanted to be !

They are now inducted into this exclusive channel crosssing club.

Hard to realise it is the same man who now plays a Catholic priest on TV.!

Flying Fish hovercraft in Moscow

2008-10-29T11:18:00.004Z

This craft is just off to Moscow, it will be used on the big rivers in and near Moscow. For a long time in the winter the rivers are frozen solid, so a hovercraft is a good option. And when the summer comes it is a very pleasant run for as long as you like through wonderful country side.

It is getting on for 500 miles to get to the sea, so plenty of scope for a day out !

This craft is fitted with a Russian built Rotax 503 2 stroke engine, with electric start. This is at the request of the customer. It means spares etc are readily available there, and as fuel cost and noise are not a big issue there it makes sense for them.

The craft will also be put on display at several big leisure and sport exhibitions, so we have hopes of other people seeing the whole new world that would open up to them by having a hovercraft.

After all, a hover, especially one that is not water cooled, really can be used all year round.

We did not fit decals on this craft, as the person in Russia will fit his own, ours would not have been easily understood !

Jenny's New Craft

2008-10-27T18:36:00.004Z

Jenny Campbell took delivery of her new, up-rated, single seater craft. finished in a nice sparkly yellow and red.
As a first outing the weather could have been better, but late October is not maybe the best time !After battling round to the hover museum from the Griffon works in Southampton,on Saturday, Jenny and her Dad decided to call it a day, and took the craft back by road.
But next day Sunday, they set off again and together with 7 other craft, including a big Griffon, hovered to Portsmouth harbour, had a tour round the harbour before returning to the Griffon works.
On the return journey she clocked up an 18 mile run at an average of 38knots, so she is well pleased.The pictures are of the road crossing to enter the Museum compound.
Link: Flyingfishhovercraft.co.uk
draft

Treasure Hunt At Berekley

2008-09-16T16:06:00.004+01:00

On The Weekend of 13/14th September we all went over to the river Severn for Britain's premier cruising event, THE BERKELEY TREASURE HUNT.

We were very lucky with the weather, Saturday, the day of the actual hunt, was sunny and warm with little wind.

Approx 28 craft of all sorts took part. The idea is to follow maps to a set point, answer a question, take it back to control and then you are given a new destination. 10 different points in all, bonus points for good answers, and correct navigation.

It involves going to the destination and getting as close as you can to the point. Then one team member gets out of the craft, up the muddy bank to find the answer. This is the reason everyone involved is covered in mud, as can be seen in the pics. They deliberately made it so even a hover could not get there, but it is great fun, and provides endless enjoyment.

On the Sunday, despite a misty start to the morning, a cruise down to the big Severn bridge for almost everyone and then some craft went on to the river Wye. The first back returned at about 12.30, the more ambitious cruisers did not return until about 3pm.

There were about 7 flying fish craft at the event, although the event was won by Dan Newton in a 100 hp craft - sometimes you just can't beat big horsepower!!!

This is a really great event. When the hunt is on, craft are in and out all the time and it lasts for about 5 hours without a break - lots of mud and challenging hovering, as good as it gets!

Big thanks to the organisiers for a brilliant weekend!

Hover craft show 2008

2008-09-02T14:38:00.003+01:00

This week end Nelson Wood and I took a couple of craft to the hover show at The Hovercraft museum at Lee-on-Solent http://www.hovercraft-museum.org. We had a very enjoyable weekend, playing with craft, giving a few demos, and just spending a whole weekend talking hovercraft !

A couple of short cruises up and down the coast were easy and a bit of fun.

There is a bit of film on you tube " Hover Craft show 2008"

Thanks to every one at the show, they all made us very welcome, and we will be there next year for the special 4 day show.

BBC's 'Coast' Program drives a Flying Fish Hover!

2008-08-28T21:47:00.006+01:00

A blustery and chilly tuesday saw us down the beach with Dr Alice Roberts and the team from the BBC's 'Coast' Program.

Having already visited Dover for a ride in a commercial Griffon Hovercraft, they came along to Ramsgate for a drive of the Marlin two seat hovercraft to help tell the story of the cross channel hovercraft service which started from the town in 1966.

Tutored by the Flying Fish team, Alice turned out to be a willing pupil! Ignoring pretty much all the instructions she was given, she cleared off down the beach and turned straight out to sea. She returned through the breakers soaking wet but with a huge smile on her face...it should make good TV when the program airs in Winter! Against the wishes of the producers, she shot off again for another ride - and afterwards described it as a brilliant experience.

Here's a few pictures from the day.

Flying Doctor!

Double Double Channel Crossing!

2008-08-12T12:47:00.010+01:00

Playing inthe surf at Sangatte

Leaving Dover Harbour 6.30am

On the way back in Nelly spotted afriend of his who drives ferry's for aliving so the boys detoured to say 'hi!'

The drivers - Nelson & Russ

The team

Arriving at Sangatte

Pretty good conditions, but hardly flat calm when your 'boat' is only 3.1 metres long!

Living down in the South-East, 20 or so miles from France, we’ve been muttering about the possibility of a Channel crossing for a while now.

Flying Fish is based in Dover as well, so we always felt it was something that time, tide, weather, diaries and opportunity permitting – we needed to cross off the list!

A history of light hovers across the channel is pretty brief as I understand it. Somewhere around 1971, Nigel Beale crossed from Pegwell Bay (site of the Hoverport) via Deal to France, taking something like 3 hours. The craft was powered by three chainsaw engines…..a remarkable feat and one that made him the first to complete the crossing - it really was a heroic venture! In 1977 Kip McCollum of Osprey Hovercraft made a straightforward crossing from Dover to Calais, taking about 1h35mins. Though he left Dover in the company of a second craft, the other one got into all sorts of difficulties, eventually being recovered from the middle of a shipping lane.

And that’s it!

Since then, nothing. That’s the entire history (to the best of my knowledge) of Light Hover cross channel expeditions.

We decided we wanted to set a decent time, and to make sure it was safe and officially recorded, we enlisted the help of our good friend Lance Oram from the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation www.channelswimming.net – nobody knows the route across the channel better as he spends the whole of the summer months racing across at one knot!

Our diaries and weather window finally came good on July 23^rd and we unloaded the craft at 6am on a slipway in Dover harbour - the harbour master, being a total killjoy, wouldn’t let us leave from the pad….. Nelson Wood (better known as ‘God in Orange’) brought his Flying Fish Marlin, and my son Russ had a similar craft. We brought two Ribs as support, both 6.5 metres. Nelsons Tornado and Lance’s Ocean, with Gary & Lee from Flying Fish and a photographer friend to take the all important pics!

We’d also managed to borrow some intercoms from a friend - Russ & Nellly were wearing noise canceling headsets connected to the VHF’s. Russ said that coupled with his Ipod, it was a comfortable, enjoyable crossing! The intercoms worked brilliantly and we could easily talk between the boats and craft.

The conditions, once clear of the harbour were great, with gentle rolling swell – no big deal and in fact, the crossing was actually pretty unremarkable - just what we wanted, no dramas! Cruising at around 24knots, we were quickly in sight of Sangatte beach, and a little later the hover abandoned the boats amongst the surf to ride gracefully onto the beach. Half the job done in 57 minutes!

Sangattes a funny place – nobody bats an eyelid. Lance has piloted amphibious cars, remote control planes, Ribs fitted with wheels, Jeremy Clarkson’s Nissank (sic) with the 225 outboard bolted to it….etc - nothing much surprises this sleepy little village anymore, least of all a couple of hovers!

The boys splashed a drop of petrol into the hovers (not really necessary, the Briggs motors had used around 6 litres each – by comparison, the boats had used 30!) and wandered into the village to buy some cheese and wine (as you do!) and then set out for the return leg. We’d decided to push very slightly harder on the way back and 52 minutes later we safely arrived back on the slipway in Dover. Our times each way were both quicker than the £1m (seriously!) amphibious car that Lance had taken across in July (they took 74 minutes) and Branson’s Aquacar crossing - Hovers Rule!

Kipper’s smoked, we were back for breakfast! J The press were waiting for us - TV, newspapers, radio all loved the story. Groping for an answer to the question ‘So why did you decide to make crossing?’ Russ could only mutter something about ‘Ummm, Errr, well its to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the commencement of cross channel operations….’ Which may or may not be right, but they all picked up on it and reported it differently in each paper! The real answer is that – we wanted to!

We're all just chuffed to bits. To complete the return trip – and with two hovers - is a first and makes the Marlin the only current light hovercraft to have crossed the channel - and the only one ever to have made the return trip.

The ‘Channel Club’ is a pretty exclusive little club at the moment, with just 4(?) members. - Nigel beale, Kip McCollum, Nelson & Russ. It’s one that we hope grows. We genuinely hope that somebody will come along and smash our time, we know we could do it quicker and can promise a response!

These 4 stroke, quiet, reliable, economical craft make it so easy. Cruising is on the up, with some great craft out there operating week in, week out. Check out the hovercraft club bulletin board - modern craft are capable, genuine cruisers with no more limitations than a boat of comparable size. Pushing the Flying Fish to the limit in environments such as this is what has driven development so far, so fast.

A great big 'Thank You' to Dave Pearce for the photos!