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But seriously, if you stand behind a pair of large high-velocity fans that are about to power a large vessel over open water, you can expect to get a bit wet. :P
Meet Island Flyer! She’s a 5-year old hovercraft, and along with her sister craft the Solent Flyer she runs the world’s only commercial hovercraft service. The craft leaves from the shore at Southsea – the closest thing Portsmouth has to a beach – and powers across the Solent at a top speed of 40 knots, before arriving on the Isle of Wight 10 minutes later. It is rather fitting that this is the only commercial hovercraft service left in the world, as it was on the Isle of Wight that the first practical hovercraft was tested. Not only is the hovercraft service a vital high-speed link between the Isle and the mainland for people, post, and produce, but in the early days of the pandemic it provided a life-saving link for Covid sufferers on the Isle, ferrying patients quickly to Southampton hospital.
In the background is the Polish-built UK-registered MV St. Clare, which serves as a passenger and vehicle ferry between Portsmouth and Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight. It travels at 13 knots. Nice as she is, she is less interesting than the hovercraft. :P
Hope you enjoy!
Meet Island Flyer! She’s a 5-year old hovercraft, and along with her sister craft the Solent Flyer she runs the world’s only commercial hovercraft service. The craft leaves from the shore at Southsea – the closest thing Portsmouth has to a beach – and powers across the Solent at a top speed of 40 knots, before arriving on the Isle of Wight 10 minutes later. It is rather fitting that this is the only commercial hovercraft service left in the world, as it was on the Isle of Wight that the first practical hovercraft was tested. Not only is the hovercraft service a vital high-speed link between the Isle and the mainland for people, post, and produce, but in the early days of the pandemic it provided a life-saving link for Covid sufferers on the Isle, ferrying patients quickly to Southampton hospital.
In the background is the Polish-built UK-registered MV St. Clare, which serves as a passenger and vehicle ferry between Portsmouth and Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight. It travels at 13 knots. Nice as she is, she is less interesting than the hovercraft. :P
Hope you enjoy!
Category Photography / Scenery
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1280 x 960px
File Size 312.5 kB
Listed in Folders
*laughs... I hardly drink at all anymore, and it always amazes me how easily people can get addicted to such things... when I was stationed in Alaska, the village had a population of maybe 2400 and the town had about 14 package stores and at least twice as many bars. Once upon a time I could have given you an accurate count.
V.
V.
*laughs... it was the national past time. I used to read the police reports in the local (once a week) newspaper.
*police report two individuals are about to have a duel on bulldozers.
*police receive a second call that the duel has begun.
*police arrive on scene and arrest both individuals for 'incapacitated assist'.
I kid you not...
V.
*police report two individuals are about to have a duel on bulldozers.
*police receive a second call that the duel has begun.
*police arrive on scene and arrest both individuals for 'incapacitated assist'.
I kid you not...
V.
Years ago, I was on watch at that location in New London. When I announced that there was a hovercraft coming up the Thames, and my Captain called me a liar over the radio. I repeated my statement and she got in the vehicle and drove down to the shore -- just in time to see the 'nonexistent' hovercraft dock at the Coast Guard Station.
It was not. I was fired for 'reasons' that were never made clear; what I was told verbally, what she 'wrote' in my termination notice (the woman was a dysfunctional illiterate) and the statement she sent to the State of Connecticut Department of Labor were not only contradictory but barely legible. The interviewer at Dept. of Labor was in tears, trying to fight back gales of laughter.
The State tossed it instantly and they had to pay my unemployment for four months. Shortly after I started working at my new career as a programmer for an insurance company, she called the company and ordered them to fire me. I don't know about anywhere else, but that's illegal in the U.S. I sent a registered letter with a witness letter (from the Human Resources manager she called) to the security company's CEO.
A month later, she failed to qualify with the handgun and it was revealed that her previous qualification was coerced from a witness. She was summarily fired and the next time I saw her, she was staggering around the campus of the Main Post Office in Hartford, mumbling to herself. Sic semper tyrannis.
A month later, she failed to qualify with the handgun and it was revealed that her previous qualification was coerced from a witness. She was summarily fired and the next time I saw her, she was staggering around the campus of the Main Post Office in Hartford, mumbling to herself. Sic semper tyrannis.
Improved? I'll say. The owner/CEO was followed everywhere by two United States Marshals. They ensured he didn't gamble away his U.S. Government contract employees' payrolls. Nice guys; one of them liked Connecticut so much he requested a transfer here from Alabama. I met him again when I took a short-term position guarding a drug lord's house six months later and he turned the keys over to me and my buddy.
The company owner died a year after my termination. I haven't been able to determine Cause of Death, but it was very sudden. I do know he was under Federal investigation for fraud, so my guess is coronary, stroke or suicide. The corporation went bankrupt and was dissolved; thirty years later there is little on the Interwebz to recall their existence except old court records. The rot in that outfit went to the core.
The company that had the contract when I started there in 1987 was also under investigation; it's owner went to prison and the business was forced to dissolve. After two years his ex-wife restarted the company under the same name. And prospective employers wonder why they can't get a complete background check on me.
The company owner died a year after my termination. I haven't been able to determine Cause of Death, but it was very sudden. I do know he was under Federal investigation for fraud, so my guess is coronary, stroke or suicide. The corporation went bankrupt and was dissolved; thirty years later there is little on the Interwebz to recall their existence except old court records. The rot in that outfit went to the core.
The company that had the contract when I started there in 1987 was also under investigation; it's owner went to prison and the business was forced to dissolve. After two years his ex-wife restarted the company under the same name. And prospective employers wonder why they can't get a complete background check on me.
Walking on a shingle beach, 'Gus? :-? It depends on how large the pebbles are, and how much sand is mixed in with them. But, generally,
Silverwind wrote:It can be quite an effort, haha. The stones are fairly solid, but they tend to give way a fair bit when you put your energy into taking a step, so you tire out quite quickly.
is a fairly accurate description of walking on a shingle beach.
Silverwind wrote:It can be quite an effort, haha. The stones are fairly solid, but they tend to give way a fair bit when you put your energy into taking a step, so you tire out quite quickly.
is a fairly accurate description of walking on a shingle beach.
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