DiscoverHover expands to 1500 schools in 44 countries

Australia's Wantirna College built the world's first DiscoverHover One hovercraft.

The World Hovercraft Organization's DiscoverHover international school hovercraft program debuted in 2003 as a resource to give "…students worldwide the educational opportunities that accompany the building of a hovercraft and racing it in established hovercraft races." The focus of the program is the construction and piloting of the DiscoverHover One hovercraft, which meets global standards for entry-level racing hovercraft.

DiscoverHover provides hovercraft plans and instructions, Curriculum Guides and comprehensive resources at no charge to schools and universities, youth organizations, instructors, and students age 7 to 21 anywhere in the world.

When DiscoverHover.org went online in September 2003, a light trickling of traffic found its way to the site; for the first few months, visits to the site did not exceed 15 per month. The power and appeal of this unique youth opportunity is reflected in its current statistics:

• Today, visits to the web site exceed 170,000 per month, and this trend continues to grow;
• DiscoverHover membership has grown to approach 1500 schools, youth groups and individual students, and a number of schools have built more than one hovercraft;
• The program has expanded throughout the world, with registrants in 44 countries to date: Australia, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States and Venezuela.