Apr 30, 2016 ... Flyboard Air inventor Franky Zapata sets Guinness World Record for farthest hoverboard flight. By Amar Toor; on April 30, 2016 05:31 am ...
Franky Zapata, the French jet ski champion who invented the Flyboard Air,
has set a new Guinness World Record for the farthest hoverboard flight.
Zapata achieved the feat Saturday morning off the coast of
Sausset-les-Pins in the South of France, riding his Flyboard Air
hoverboard for a distance of more than 2,252 meters (7,388 feet). That
far surpasses the previous record of 275.9 meters (905 feet, 2 inches), set last year by Canadian inventor Catalin Alexandru Duru.
Zapata, 37, gained wide attention online earlier this month after
videos of him riding the Flyboard Air went viral. Some doubted whether
the footage was real or merely a marketing gimmick. His company, Zapata Racing,
has developed a wide range of water-propelled devices, including the
original Flyboard, which connects to a personal watercraft turbine with a
long hose. The Flyboard Air, by contrast, uses an "Independent
Propulsion Unit" to fly hose-free for up to 10 minutes, according to
Zapata Racing. The company says the device can reach a maximum height of
10,000 feet, with a maximum speed of 150 kilometers per hour (93 miles
per hour).
Around 200 people gathered to see Zapata complete the record-setting
ride this morning at Sausset-les-Pins, a small seaside city near
Marseille. He took off from a platform along the coastline, rising to at
least 100 feet above the water, and was trailed throughout the flight
by a fleet of boats and jet skis. Speaking to the audience afterward, a
beaming Zapata thanked his team for helping him achieve the feat, which
he said had been working toward for five years.
"This has really been a life's work."
"This has really been a life's work," he told reporters at a press conference following the flight.
In an interview following the flight, Zapata said he was most nervous
about the launch this morning, but he said his fears disappeared once
he was up in the air. The experience, he says, is indescribable. "It's
an amazing sensation, it's really peaceful," he said. "I open my arms
because it helps me control my movements, but when you open your hands
and you feel the wind go through your hand and you have nothing under
your feet — it's hard to describe, really. You have to experience this
moment in your life."
In an interview with The Verge
this month, Zapata said it took four years to develop the Flyboard Air,
including algorithms that control the angle of its turbines and adjust
its power. The Flyboard Air has four 250-horsepower turboengines, which
are fueled by Jet A1 kerosene carried in a tank strapped to its rider's
back. (Two other engines are on each side of the board, for
stabilization.) Riders use a hand remote to control the engines'
throttle.
Others have developed similar devices, though none are quite as
spectacular as the Flyboard Air. Duru, the previous world record holder,
created a hoverboard that's powered by propellers, and companies like Lexus and ArcaSpace have come out with more traditional hoverboards that fly closer to the ground.
"My goal is to ride the clouds."
Zapata's system is still very new; Saturday's record-setting ride
comes just two months after the Flyboard Air's first successful run, and
he told reporters that prior to the flight, he had only spent a total
of about two hours flying it. The inventor has acknowledged that it's
not the kind of thing people could just pick up and learn, but he says
his company has already begun working on a smaller, more
consumer-friendly version that riders could fly while seated.
In an interview with The Verge Saturday, Zapata said he dreams
of the day when he can just "pick up my Flyboard and fly to work,"
saying he still needs to extend the Flyboard Air's flight time before it
can be widely adopted. He also thinks it could help military and other
security forces respond to emergencies and combat terrorism in densely
populated areas. "If people are able to fly like this, they can be some
kind of superhuman," he said. "And they can help save people in this
completely mad world."
His longer-term goals sound even more ambitious. "You won't believe it. We will fly the clouds," Zapata told The Verge
earlier this month. "My goal is to ride the clouds. Do like
snowboarding in the powder, but I want to do it in a cloud. That's my
dream, and I will do my best to realize that."
Update April 30th, 7:17AM ET: This article has been updated to include quotes from Franky Zapata.
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