Tag Archive for 'pedal-power'

Steam Boat Willy – The Human-Powered Hovercraft!!!

jackson published on August 14, 2009 in technology, transportation and zeitgeist. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

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It’s a hovercraft you pedal! I’m wriggling in excitement as I type these words!

From the SteamBoatWilly site:

“The SBW was tailored to suit one fit young man, Aleksi Halkola. Yet, to our delight, we have found that everyone who has tried to hover with it has been successful, including a leukemia survivor and one 69-year old with arthritis in one leg so bad that he could hardly walk. The hardest part is getting in and out. Dozens of people of all ages, both genders, and emanating from several parts of the globe have become airborne under their own leg-power alone in the Steam Boat Willy. Chris Padmore kept it up for over half and hour.”


Check out SteamBoatWilly.org! Pedal-power win! P3dal-P0w3r Pwnage!

Cheers to boingboing for the tippitty tip!

Stephane Rousson’s Pedal-Powered Flying Machine!

jackson published on June 10, 2008 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .



Stephane Rousson is a Frenchman who dearly loves being airborne.
The pilot and adventurer is going to attempt an English Channel crossing in a pedal-powered dirigible. While the human angle fascinates me, I’m really gaga over the flying machine.

Check it:

As material sciences advance, and we are able to build lighter and stronger structures, and motors and power supplies similarly shrink in mass and increase in power, there’s no reason a new wave of commercially available, human-powered dirigibles couldn’t be offered. And what fun that would be!

Here’s to the skies!