It’s time to fly
A few weeks ago, some of the Go Ape Delamere tribe went to Rednal Airbase in Shropshire for some hovercrafting fun! The team were Vikki Morton, Paul Absalom, Abi Hodgson, Paul Nicholson, Nikki Townsend, Gareth Battison Howard, Jack Delaney, Alex Lodge, Mark Kelly, and myself Lee Oulton.
The Delamere instructors were given a 20 minute safety brief on how to “fly” a 1000cc F2 Racing Hovercraft around the purposely built course on the Shropshire airbase.
Once the safety brief was complete, it was time to fly…
Jack was brave enough to be the first to try it out, followed by Paul who both did very well for their first attempt. Now it was time for the girls to have a go. Up comes Abi who is petrified just watching the others go around! She puts on the knee pads and crash helmet and in she steps. The throttle is on and off she goes with a massive scream. She is screaming so loud that you can hear her over the engines of the hovercrafts and the RAF Helicopter taking off in the field behind us!
After her first lap she did not want to do around again, it was far too scary. So the nice hovercraft instructor demanded her back onto the craft to take a high speed lap around the course with him! She was not happy, however it was fun to watch!
Nearly everyone completed 2 laps safely and now it is time for me to take flight. What can go wrong? I have spent the last half an hour watching the crafts take the corners and entering the water so I am pretty confident I know what I’m doing. I step in knowing that there has been nobody fall out in the last 2 years. On goes the throttle and off I go into the distance at full speed. The first corner is fine and I have an idea of how much I need to steer and how far to lean into the bends. The first lap is complete so just 1 more lap to go. Or am I still on the first lap? I’m not too sure at the moment so I will just see what the instructor does when I pass him. I approach the others who are cheering me on and waving their arms so this must be my first lap so off I go for another lap. The reason they were waving was to tell me to stop as I had finished. But I got far too carried away and went for another lap. On the second 90 degree bend to the left I was approaching far too fast and not leaning over enough to make the bend correctly. I let go of the throttle completely and the engine died and the whole craft sat down on the grass which sent me flying out and into the long grass! Yes, I am the first person to fall out in 2 years. Champion!
Lying on my back in the grass I got straight back up onto my feet and looked over at the others laughing at me. I did a salute and jumped back into the craft and carried on as if nothing had happened. When I returned I got a cheer from everyone and this is when I was told “serves you right for stealing an extra go” I then realised I had done 3 laps not 2.
It was time for a break. We headed up to the shelter and had a nice hot cup of coffee which was a nice surprise, especially when they said it was free. And Vikki had brought a BIG chocolate cake for us all to share with the Hovercraft Instructors. There was a bit of a fight over who got the pieces with the monkey faces on but we all had a piece each. Jack was very happy as the staff gave him a free can of Coca Cola. Jack will only drink coke and nothing else, never a hot drink with Jack. Poor Gareth had to wait for his coffee as Nikki had forgot to count him in for a cuppa! Gareth loves his coffee.
After a 20 minute break it was time to fly again. Same plan as earlier, 2 laps each but this time the wind had picked up and it had started to rain a little. The instructor had warned us about the wind as it can get underneath the cushion and flip the crafts over. With me already falling out once, I was really nervous about flying for the second time. Again I got to the back of the queue so I could be last. Everyone completed their 2 laps but they all had problems on the same bend towards the end. The craft goes into the longer grass and gets stuck. The only way out is to get out and drag the craft out of the grass. This was done several times during the day by us all. Annoying but all part of the fun. Paul Absalom was lucky as he had the craft come of the ground at one point and Jack managed to get stuck on the wall of tyres! It was now my turn so on went the helmet and in I stepped. The instructor said to me “2 laps now not 3, careful on the bends & don’t break my hovercraft, see you in 5 minutes, have a good flight” off I went. This time I was flying the blue hovercraft which was a little less powerful than the red one which I fell off. All I could think of was falling out again so I was being really careful, stopping before the bends so I could take them nice and slowly. I got it stuck a few times but it doesn’t take long to recover them. I had now finally made 2 safe and successful laps around the course.
We thanked the instructors and headed back to the car park. After lunch it was time for adventure number 2. So we headed off up to the Mersey Tunnel and went to Awesome Walls Climbing Centre in Liverpool for the evening. I’m a beginner and no where near as good as the others so my hands were hurting after an hour of climbing. Claire Loughlin another Go Ape instructor met up with us at the wall later in the evening. By 8:30pm my arms were hurting and my legs were also starting to ache from the hover crafting . I could of easily of curled up into a ball and gone to sleep there and then!
On the way home to Northwich, I remember saying to Mark Kelly that I will sleep well tonight but hurt tomorrow. And this was spot on. I slept like a baby but my legs hurt for 5 days afterwards. Unless you have tried hover crafting, you will never realise how much you use your legs and knees to steer.
It was an overall fantastic day out and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an adventure of a different kind. Live life more adventurously!
