Just 10 days after a failed first try ended with Franky Zapata up to his neck in water, the French jet-ski champion successfully crossed the English Channel on his self-made "flyboard" Sunday morning.




Taking off at 8:17 a.m. local time, he flew across the 21.7 miles that separate the French town of Sangatte from Saint Margaret's at Cliffe on the southeast British coast. The trip took a total of 22 minutes -- with one refueling stop in the middle.




The French inventor's flight came 110 years after famous pioneering pilot Louis Blériot flew the first plane across the Channel in 1909.