A ground effect machine having at least one cushion comprises juxtaposed elementary skirts each fed with pressure fluid, the edge by which each of these skirts is fixed on the machine comprising two substantially rectilinear and opposite elements in such manner that two adjacent skirts touch along their height by a portion of their substantially plane wall. The tension of the skirts, which ensures their stability of shape despite the slight difference between their fixing section and their opening section, is obtained by means of a permeable wall fixed towards the bottom of the skirt and formed with fluid passages the sum of the sections of which is less than the section of the skirt supply conduit so as to maintain a fluid pressure in the top part of the skirt. The permeable wall is designed and adapted to inflate under the effect of said tension and have a curved profile with its convexity directed towards the contact surface which the machine cooperates.
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