Daredevil breaks hoverboard world record with 2km flight

A 37-year-old French jet-ski champion has shattered the record for the longest flight ever taken on a hoverboard, traveling more than a mile while flying over the Mediterranean off the coast of Sausset-les-Pins on Saturday, Guinness World Records confirmed over the weekend.

During what was described as a “spectacular” display, Franky Zapata flew 50 meters (164 feet) above the ground and traveled a total distance of 2,252 meters (7,388 feet), easily surpassing the previous record of 275.9 meters (905 feet, 2 inches), set last year by a Canadian inventor named Catalin Alexandru Duru, according to Guinness World Records.

Zapata used a hoverboard that had been developed by his own company, Zapata Racing, known as the Flyboard Air. The vehicle can purportedly reach a maximum height of 10,000 feet, as well as speeds of up to 150 kilometers per hour (93 mph). It uses an “Independent Propulsion Unit” to fly hose-free, and it can remain airborne for as much as 10 minutes, Guinness added.

More than 200 people were on hand to watch Zapata’s flight, including by Sofia Grenache, an adjudicator at Guinness World Records who verified the achievement. During a press conference held afterwards, Zapata told reporters that the endeavor had “really been a life’s work.”

Not the first record-setting feat for Zapata

Saturday’s feat was not the first time Zapata had set a new world record. In 2014, during a live CBBC television broadcast, he successfully completed a record 26 backflips while using a water powered  jetpack. That mark was surpassed last August by China’s Liu He, who managed 27 flips.

After breaking the hoverboard flight record, he said that flying so above the ground was “really peaceful,” telling The Guardian, “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.”

Video footage of a test flight that was posted to YouTube went viral and was viewed more than three million times, but drew many comments from users skeptical that it was authentic and that the hoverboard was even real. Not only is it real, it’s now a world record holder, completing its two kilometer journey at an average speed of 50-60 km/hour, the Associated Press said.

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Image credit: Guinness World Records

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