Attempt to hoverboard Channel crossing to Kent fails
09:02, 25 July 2019
updated: 09:15, 25 July 2019
An inventor has failed in his bid to cross the English Channel on a hoverboard after falling into the sea.
Franky Zapata missed a landing platform mounted on a boat as he tried to land at the midway point for refuelling.
He had set off from Sangatte beach near Calais 10 minutes earlier and was heading for St Margaret's Bay in Dover when he ended up in the water.
He was not hurt.
Before setting off, Franky said: "I'm feeling good. It's an amazing experience just to cross the English Channel and to make the same journey as Louis Bleriot.
"It's just amazing for me."
His wife Krysten added: "I'm not nervous, I'm very confident in both Franky and the machine because he trains every day."
The 40-year-old, a former jet ski champion, was aiming to cross the 22-mile stretch of water in around 20 minutes on a Flyboard Air which he invented himself.
He was doing it to coincide with the 110th anniversary of the first cross-Channel flight by Louis Bleriot.
