Hybrid SES/hovercraft with retractable skirt system

A hybrid craft comprising:

• a hull having a downwardly extending boundary structure on the periphery of said hull to reach through the surface of water, said boundary structure having thin rigid side-wall portions extending downward from lateral sides of said hull, a forward seal wall portion extending downward from a forward portion of said hull, and an aft seal wall portion extending downward from an aft portion of said hull;
• means mounted on said hull for creating a pressurized cushion of air under said hull inside of said boundary structure to support and transport said hull on an air cushion;
• a flexible skirt system mounted on said hull inwardly of and adjacent to said boundary structure to retract to a first position above said boundary structure and said surface of said water and to extend to a second position downwardly extending below said boundary structure and said surface of said water;
• first means mounted on said hull for feeding volumes of pressurized air to beneath said hull and inside of said boundary structure to support and transport said hull on said air cushion;
• second means mounted on said hull for feeding a portion of said volumes of pressurized air to a chamber of in said flexible skirt system to deploy said flexible skirt system from said retracted first position to said downwardly extending second position below said boundary structure, said air cushion being under said hull and inside of said flexible skirt system when deploying said flexible skirt system to said downwardly extending second position to support and transport said hull on said air cushion;
• and
• means mounted on said hull for venting pressurized air from said chamber in said flexible skirt system to retract said flexible skirt system from said downwardly extending second position to said retracted first position above said boundary structure.