France's Flyboard hero Franky Zapata failed in his attempt to cross English Channel

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/f...ntl/index.html

(CNN) — Some people swim the English Channel between Britain and France, others
prefer to sail. French inventor Franky Zapata has attempted to make the crossing
on a jet-powered hoverboard -- but failed.

Zapata, a former jet ski racing champion, took to the skies Thursday on his
Flyboard Air vehicle but missed a platform mounted on a boat as he tried to land
midway for refueling, Reuters reported. The 40-year-old was uninjured in the
fall into the sea.

"When I got closer to the platform, the boat took a wave and it hit the foot of
the machine and broke it," Zapata told a press conference Thursday.

"I lost balance, I fell in the water. The flyboard is damaged, the electronic
part has to be redone, the motors are ruined but the base is saved," he
continued.

He was around 11 miles from the finish at St Margaret's Bay, England. "I could
see the British borders," he told the press conference.

But not all is lost, as he hopes to make a second attempt to cross the channel
"as soon as next week."

The daredevil, who took off at around 9 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) from from
Sangatte in France, was attempting to mark the 110th anniversary of the first
aerial crossing of the Channel. He hoped to make the 22-mile (35km) journey in
20 minutes.

Footage from his launch showed Zapata climbing up onto a platform in the French
coastal town, stepping onto his flyboard and then flying off into the horizon.

The flyboard looks like a chunky skateboard and is powered by five small
engines. It is fueled by kerosene, which Zapata carried 104 pounds of in his
backpack, Agence France-Presse reported.

He was due to pick up a second pack of kerosene at the mid-Channel refueling
stop.

The inventor captured the world's imagination when he took to the skies above
Paris at Bastille Day parade on July 14 with the board that can reach an
altitude of nearly 500 feet -- with the potential to go much higher -- and a
speed of 87 miles per hour.

Even French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted a video of Zapata's exploits.

While the Bastille Day flight only used "3% of the machine's capacity," a
successful crossing of the Channel will take "99.9%," Zapata told CNN ahead of
his Channel crossing. He warned that wind strength could be his biggest obstacle
on Thursday.

Zapata said he believed he had a "30% chance" of making it across, and admitted
to feeling greater pressure now that there is a lot more interest in his
exploits.

"When you fly with your body, even your hands affect the direction you want to
go in. You feel the turbulence and the air through your fingers," Zapata told
CNN.

"It's like becoming a bird. But it's also very hard. I have to fight against the
wind with my legs so there's pain too. It's not as peaceful as it looks."




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