Hi Dave, (how's 'Spud Gun'?
)
You get alot of traffic in the channel Dave and with the amounts of spray those babies throw up at the windows I would imagine that it wouldn't be too difficult to hover straight into a vessel at 60+ knots. That's pretty much what happened at Dover when one crashed into the harbour wall killing umpteen people. I believe it lead to services being stopped at + Force 7.
Yak Hunt,
I will try and contact someone who should know the ins and outs of what the life of Hoverspeed pilots was like and what they are up to now. Stay tuned!
VFE.