Those who normally commute on the Hovercraft will be breathing a sigh of relief to hear that at least one of the Hovers is now running again, especially if they were caught up in the mess that was this morning.
Hovertravel had arranged for Wightlink to carry their normal Hovercraft customers on the Catamaran service. Those arriving at the end of Ryde Pier for the 7:47 Cat this morning were met by huge queues.
Twitter revealed frustrations
Various Hovertravel passengers Tweeted about it, expressing their frustration that they weren’t getting on their desired crossing, despite Hovertravel having paid Wightlink for the tickets – especially as Wightlink customers walked past them, not having to wait.
Hovertravel customers were then allowed to board, if there was space available. We received reports that there were around 75 people left at the Ryde Pier head when the 7:47 got under-way.
7:47 was only half full
Such is the power of Twitter to distribute information near-instantly, all of those watching the streams were then shocked to see, because of the Tweets of @SpecialF, that the 7:47 craft was only half full, which she quickly followed up with a photo that proved it.
Quick detective work on the Pier by another Tweeter, @AddmannIW, revealed, “Ticket office has just informed me that they are restricted to 147 passengers due to missing a lifeboat.”
Missing a lifeboat
We contacted Wightlink, who confirmed that they could only carry 147 on the 7:47 Wight Ryder I, as they were “waiting for the extra life rafts to come back after they were launched into the Solent assisting Ryde inshore rescue when the man jumped off Ryde pier a few weeks ago.”
VB asked Wightlink why, given the knowledge that there would be so many extra people travelling on the Cat, hadn’t they made sure Wight Ryder I was fully equipped first thing. This morning, there was no answer to that, just repeating that “Until the life raft is replaced, safety regulations demand that she should sail with a limit on passenger numbers.”
It’s pleasing to hear from Wighlink at 3:49pm today that they transferred one of the life-raft from Wight Ryder II, currently undergoing maintenance, on to Wight Ryder I, returning its capacity to 260 passengers.
All aboard the 8:10
Having been held back for their previous sailing, it’s not surprising that there was great joy from those who missed the 7:47 that they managed to get on the 8:10 (which left later than planned), which was the charter vessel replacement service as Wight Ryder I had been taken out of service.
Reports from on-board were that passengers had no option but became rather friendly with others near them, as the charter vessel was completely packed, with many of the passengers standing, as you can see from @AddmannIW photo. Many felt this wasn’t a problem, being grateful to actually get across the Solent.
It appears that problems continued at the Ryde end into the morning with another report reaching us that the 9:10 became referred to as the 9:47 by those taking it, as such delays had occurred. Tempers were somewhat frayed.
Phew – Well done everyone!
As we said at the top, big sighs of relief from all concerned, including the staff at Wightlink who must have had a pretty testing time too – and a well done to the charter vessel staff, who certainly earned their money this morning.
Many thanks to @SpecialF and @AddmannIW for use of their photos
Click on images to see for full-sized version.
