A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is a craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud or ice and other surfaces both at speed and when stationary. Hovercrafts are hybrid vessels operated by a pilot as an aircraft rather than a captain as a marine vessel.

Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull that is slightly above atmospheric pressure. The pressure difference between the higher pressure air below the hull and lower pressure ambient air above it produces lift, which causes the hull to float above the running surface. For stability reasons, the air is typically blown through slots or holes around the outside of a disk or oval shaped platform, giving most hovercraft a characteristic rounded-rectangle shape. Typically this cushion is contained within a flexible "skirt", which allows the vehicle to travel over small obstructions without damage.

Griffon/Grse 8000 TD class is a series of hovercraft designed by M/s Griffon Hovercraft Ltd, Southampton, England and jointly built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, Kolkata and Griffon for the Indian Coast Guard.

The Hovercraft's hull is made of light weight marine grade aluminium alloy. They are powered by two 588 KW radiator cooled MTU Diesel Engines, with 2.6 m variable pitch propellers and have 1.25 m skirt to enable the craft of the series to sprint speed of 53.5 knots with high speed patrolling capacity in coastal shallow waters, marshy areas, creeks as well as deep seas. The craft are also fitted also with a 12.7 mm gun. The crafts are intended to be used for search and rescue operation, assistance to ships and craft in distress and interruption and interdiction of offending vessels day and night.

The Indian Coast Guard acquired six 8000TDs in 2001. Two of the Griffon 8000TD(M)s were manufactured at GHL's boatyard in Southampton England, and four were assembled from completely knocked-down kits (CKD's) by GRSE in Calcutta, India. In 2010, Griffon Hoverwork won another £34 million contract to supply the Indian Coast Guard with twelve 8000TD hovercrafts.

Bakkhali is a seaside resort in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, India. It is located on one of the many deltaic islands that spread across southern Bengal. Most of the islands are part of the Sunderbans range, barring a few at the fringes. Some of these are joined together with bridges over narrow creeks. This small island juts out into the vastness of the Bay of Bengal.

It has a 7 km long beach stretching from Bakkhali to Frasergunj, its twin beach, with gently rolling waves. These are twin towns now forming one continuous locality. Casuarina trees line the beach. Except on an occasional holiday, the beach is not crowded. Even if one part is crowded on a particular day, there will be plenty of barren pockets. A small stretch near Bakkhali has been lighted up. The beach is suitable for cycling, driving and long walks.

Source - Wikipedia

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