When Yves Rossy crossed the English Channel last week with his flying wing, he made it look easy. But it isn't. Just ask Stephane Rousson.

Rousson, a 39-year-old Frenchman whose unyielding obsession with flight has depleted his bank account and ruined his romantic life, attempted yesterday to cross The English Channel in a pedal-powered airship. He was forced to deflate his blimp and continue to France in a boat after a shift in winds made it impossible for him to progress, no matter how hard he pedaled.

"We were about three-quarters of the way across but the wind was flowing in the wrong direction for me to make it across," he said. "I'm not disappointed. I feel happy because it had nothing to do with any technical failure, it was purely the wind that got int the way of this achievement."

Rousson's blimp, a crank-driven zeppelin known as Zeppy, is 16-meters-long with a 5-meter diameter, and a maximum speed of 20 kph. That's about 12mph, or the speed of a Segway (which one would you rather be seen driving?). The craft's forward momentum and steering come from a pair of 10-foot movable propellers churned by a recumbent bike hanging from the ship's belly and pedaled by someone with a death wish (Rousson).

The failure is strike two for Rousson, whose June attempt to cross The Channel was also foiled by winds. This time around, he waited more than a week for the right conditions, but was doomed by a light breeze that picked up while he was in flight. "What feels breathlessly still to most people feels like a storm when you're trying to fly a pedal-powered airship," he says.

Rousson's singular focus on flight also seems to be taking over his life. "All of my money has gone into this," he says. I'm in quite a bit of debt." He was also dumped by his girlfriend; presumably he loves his blimp more than he loves her.

Photo: Stephane Rousson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjrgKnB5wAw