Millennium Promenade - Hovercraft Terminal

Hovertravel is the world’s longest-running commercial hovercraft service and provides the only scheduled passenger hovercraft service in Europe.

Since Hovertravel launched in 1965, the service has carried over 26 million passengers across from Southsea to Ryde on the Isle of Wight.

The hovercraft is a tourist attraction in its own right. Many people travel from far away just to see it taking off and arriving on the beach. It offers the fastest way to cross the Solent, with a journey time of just under 10 minutes. The advantage of the hovercraft is that it can travel at extremely low tides. The service runs frequently each day although high winds and swells in the Solent may stop operation of the service for safety reasons.

The hovercraft is designed to travel over any kind of surface. Hovercraft float on a cushion of air that has been forced under the craft by a fan. This causes the craft to rise or ‘lift’. To make the craft function more efficiently, it is necessary to limit the cushion of air from escaping, so the air is contained by the use of what is called a hovercraft skirt. Once ‘lifted’, thrust must be created to move the hovercraft forward. It must then be steered safely. This is achieved through the use of a system of rudders behind the fan, controlled at the front of the vessel.

Sir Alec Rose, a greengrocer from Portsmouth, served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve during World War II as a diesel mechanic on a convoy escort. In 1967, at the age of 59, he embarked on a single-handed circumnavigation of the world in his 36’ sloop – Lively Lady. Rose was the first to achieve such a goal without sponsorship or inherited wealth. Upon completion of his trip he was greeted on the beach at Portsmouth by over 250,000 people. HRH Queen Elizabeth knighted him the following day at Buckingham Palace.

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