A daredevil French inventor on Sunday launched his second attempt to cross the English Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard, taking off from the northern French coast amid a crowd of onlookers.
Franky Zapata, 40, will again try to swap out his backpack full of kerosene by landing on a boat about halfway through the expected 20-minute trip toward St. Margaret's Bay in Dover, on England's southern coast.
Zapata failed to pull off the tricky refuelling manoeuvre during the first attempt on his "Flyboard" on July 25, hitting the platform and tumbling into the waters of the busy shipping lane.
He hopes to make the 35-kilometre (22-mile) crossing at an average speed of 140 kilometres an hour (87 mph) and at a height of 15-20 metres (50-65 feet) above the water.
This time the refuelling boat will be bigger and have a larger landing area, and French navy vessels in the area will again be keeping an eye out in case of trouble.
A daredevil French inventor on Sunday launched his second attempt to cross the English Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard, taking off from the northern French coast amid a crowd of onlookers.
Franky Zapata, 40, will again try to swap out his backpack full of kerosene by landing on a boat about halfway through the expected 20-minute trip toward St. Margaret’s Bay in Dover, on England’s southern coast.
Zapata failed to pull off the tricky refuelling manoeuvre during the first attempt on his “Flyboard” on July 25, hitting the platform and tumbling into the waters of the busy shipping lane.
He hopes to make the 35-kilometre (22-mile) crossing at an average speed of 140 kilometres an hour (87 mph) and at a height of 15-20 metres (50-65 feet) above the water.
This time the refuelling boat will be bigger and have a larger landing area, and French navy vessels in the area will again be keeping an eye out in case of trouble.
