Franky Zapata

Franky Zapata (born 27 September 1978) is a French personal watercraft pilot who is the inventor of the Flyboard and Flyboard Air, and founder of Zapata Racing. Since 2012, Zapata's efforts have been focused on the development and manufacture of personal flyers for land and aquatic applications.

On 4 August 2019, Zapata crossed the English Channel in 22 minutes, with a refuelling stop at midpoint, on a Flyboard Air. His 35-kilometre (22 mi) journey was completed with an escort from several French helicopters and warships, and aided by a backpack fuel reservoir.

Franky started using a Jet Ski at the age of 16. He has won the RUN F1 World Championship several times. After many years of making personal watercraft (PWC), he invented the Flyboard.

He completed an apprenticeship as a mechanic. After gaining experience in jet skiing through competitions and in particular Aquabike World Championship (powerboating), he and his father Claude founded Zapata Racing in 1998 as a high-performance PWC competition team. He shaped shells, steering, arm and saddle-VNM and tuned machines for jet ski races. He has won in PWC competition several European championships and two world champion titles. His Zapata Racing Team develops PWC related products.

He is married to Christelle, and has a son Matt.

Zapata started with a budget of 20,000 euros to develop the Flyboard. After several prototypes, he finally managed to stabilize the flyboard by means of underfoot and a hand stabilization in the air. After patenting the invention, he presented the Flyboard for the first time during the World Cup in China. The first flights were recorded and posted on YouTube and received 2.5 million views in just 15 days.

In 2016, Zapata sold Zapata Racing (ZR) to U.S. defense contractor Implant Sciences. In 2017, he provided the U.S. Army with demonstrations of the Flyboard Air (jet-powered hoverboard). A July 2019 news report provided no indication of any serious interest as of that time for the flyboard technology.

Hoverboard by ZR, invented in 2014, is a mix between a surfboard and a skateboard. It is operated by a remote-controlled personal watercraft which powers a water pump. The hoverboard has been discontinued.

The JetPack is powered by water pumped from a personal watercraft (under remote control) via a tube connected to two nozzles on the flyer. The system allows the user to fly in a seated, secured position and is less dependent on the rider’s balance and dexterity to fly. The JetPack is so stable that, once in the air, a user can even let go of the controls and stay flying in a hovering position. ...

Source: Article "Franky Zapata" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.