Water-powered flying machine

When it comes to extreme sports, it’s hard to beat a water-powered jet pack that can fly users across water.

Canadian engineer Raymond Li has designed a water-powered machine that can hover up to 30 metres in the air and travel up to 35km an hour, with a cruising duration of two to three hours.

The Jetlev-Flyer has an engine that doubles as a flotation device and a 10 metre hose, which sucks water up and spits it out through two nozzles mounted on the user’s back. It can accommodate users who weigh between 40kg and 150kg.

The machine is produced and sold by German company MS Watersports GmbH under license from Jetlev Sports in Florida.

“It sounded like a crazy idea. But after nine long years of development, including six years of intensive testing and refinements, our creativity, persistence and unshakeable belief in our ideas have finally produced an incredible and revolutionary personal flying machine,” the company says.

“For special applications, future designs could achieve higher altitudes and top speeds, extended range, and even travel both above and below the water’s surface.”

Watersports are a popular pastime in warm weather, making Australia an ideal place to develop new products for water enthusiasts and thrill-seekers. What other ideas can you bring to the water’s edge?