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Frenchman Flies across English Channel via Hoverboard
French inventor and elite jet skier Franky Zapata set the record to become the first person ever to use a hoverboard to cross the English Channel.
It’s a bird. It’s a plane. Wait, it’s a guy on a hoverboard?
On Sunday, August 4th, French inventor and elite jet skier Franky Zapata set the record to become the first person ever to use a hoverboard to cross the English Channel. This incredible feat was the second attempt by the Frenchman using his own invention, the Flyboard Air—a hoverboard powered by a kerosene-filled backpack.
Photo by Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images
After Zapata’s first attempt the week before was unsuccessful, he set off from Sangatte on the northern coast of France to try again. Reaching 60 feet in the air and traveling for nearly 22 miles in 20 minutes, he successfully touched down near Dover, England and was immediately in tears of joy. However, this was no easy achievement.
Aside from the challenge of withstanding the gusts of wind that blow above the English Channel, he notes that his biggest obstacle was refueling mid-journey. During his failed attempt, Zapata plunged into the water and wasn’t able to land on a platform on a boat that was floating in the middle of the Channel. This time around, he planned for a larger platform and a larger boat and was able to successfully change his backpack.
Photo by Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images
It’s unclear about the future of hoverboards for the average person, but it’s no doubt a cool advancement in the tech world that gets us one step closer to possibility of flying cars--another Zapata invention in the works.
