Tour the 1000 Islands with Your Own Aquatic Jetpack

Published on: 2011/02/08 - in Featured Science & Tech

The rivers and lakes surrounding Kingston and the Islands are a popular tourist attraction every year, but starting this summer the more affluent visitors can tour the waterways in the style of James Bond.

After 10 years of development, Canadian inventor Raymond Li is now taking orders for his Jetlev Flyer, an aquatic jetpack on sale for about $ 136,000.

The Jetlev Flyer consists of a lightweight carbon fiber backpack, a 10 meter long hose, and an engine that floats on water.  This engine sucks water into the hose and then out two adjustable nozzles that can launch the pilot as high as a height 10 meters.

Its 500 pounds of thrust is adjusted with buttons on the hand controller and enables speeds as high as 35 kph (22 mph) across the water.

Raymond Li, a Chinese Canadian living in St. John’s, Newfoundland, developed the Jetlev concept in 2000, and progress exploded dramatically with the involvement of the National Research Council of Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) and NRC’s Institute of Ocean Technology (NRC-IOT) in 2004.

The Jetlev was revealed at the Dusseldorf Boat Show at the end of last month and is scheduled to be shown at the Dubai International Boat Show in March.

According to Alexander Theis, director of brand marketing for the JetLev, there has already been interest from potential customers in the Middle East, Portugal and Russia, and the company is considering leasing opportunities for holiday resorts and charter yacht companies.

The company has uploaded a number of training videos that further demonstrate the ability of the Jetlev.

More Videos at: http://www.youtube.com/user/Jetlev1

Photo composition elements source: Boldt Castle & Jetlev