Page "Hovercraft" Paragraph 40

The commercial success of hovercraft suffered from rapid rises in fuel prices during the late 1960s and 1970s, following conflict in the Middle East.

Alternative over-water vehicles such as wave-piercing catamarans ( marketed as the SeaCat in the UK until 2005 ) use less fuel and can perform most of the hovercraft's marine tasks.

Although developed elsewhere in the world for both civil and military purposes, except for the Solent Ryde to Southsea crossing, hovercraft disappeared from the coastline of Britain until a range of Griffon Hovercraft were bought by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.