28 Jan. 2002

Marty Van Lishout is not your average hovercraft pilot. With almost 1,500 hours of hovercraft flight, he may well be the USA record holder.

Marty first became interested in hovercrafting in 1991 when he saw hovercraft at a Hoverclub rally in Wisconsin. After visiting Neoteric Hovercraft for a test drive in August 1991, Marty, his wife Darleen, and son Grant (a champion swimmer who loves water) purchased a new Neoteric Questrek that month.

Recently retired as a bank manager for the Associated Bank in Valders, Wisconsin, Marty now has even more time to hover. With a home situated on a shallow rocky stream, he is in an ideal hovercraft situation. He also loves communing with nature and watching wildlife in their natural environment. "You know," he says, "I could not live without a hovercraft. Just tonight I was out hovering and could touch two deer swimming across the river."

After 300 hours of bumping his first Questrek around while learning to fly it, Marty was ready for a 1994 model. In January of that year, he and his family bought a new Neoteric Questrek. Amassing 1,020 hours on the new hovercraft, with rings being replaced at 982 hours, Marty is now the consummate hovernaut.

In pristine condition, his craft has only one battle scar, which was caused by a deer's antler. During his nightly hoverings, deer and other wildlife always greet him, sometimes even swimming alongside the hovercraft. One evening a nearby hunter startled one of the swimming deer, which reared up and caught the edge of Marty's hovercraft with its antler. This has been the only damage sustained in more than 1,000 hours of hovering.

Marty has ordered a new Neoteric Hovertrek while deciding to keep his 1994 Questrek since it still runs well. Now his son Grant will have a hovercraft instead of always taking a back seat while dad drives.

Marty must be one of a very few hovercrafters in the USA with so many documented hovering hours. If you are interested in learning about Marty's experiences hovering back to nature, e-mail him at slavecook@hotmail.com. If you know of someone who has accumulated more hours on a hovercraft, please contact the Hoverclub of America, Inc.