French inventor Francky Zapata departed from Sangatte, France and arrived in Dover, England 22 minutes later, reaching speeds of up to 106 miles per hour during the 22-mile trip. “We made a machine three years ago and now, we’ve crossed the Channel, it’s crazy.”
The Guardian says that the trip wasn’t a continuous one: because he only carried a 10-minute supply of fuel on his back, he had to make a pit stop at the halfway mark to refuel.
This was Zapata’s second attempt to cross the Channel: his first attempt at the end of July failed when he fell into the water while trying to land on the refueling platform. He and his team chalked up the crash to the size of the waves during the landing attempt, forcing him to miss the edge of the platform by centimeters. After the crash, he decided to make one final attempt, this time using a slightly different route and a larger refueling platform.