PARIS — Franky Zapata, the hoverboarding Frenchman who wowed Bastille Day crowds last month with a jet-powered hoverboard, successfully crossed the English Channel on his second attempt Sunday on the device he invented.

An attempt 10 days ago failed after Mr. Zapata fell into the water midway through the crossing when he tried to land on a boat-mounted platform to refuel. On Sunday, the midway refueling — Mr. Zapata’s machine runs on kerosene — went smoothly.

Gliding above the water on what he calls a Flyboard Air, Mr. Zapata took about 22 minutes to cover the roughly 20 miles that separate Sangatte, in northern France, from St. Margaret’s Bay, just east of Dover, in southern England.

“At one point, we thought to ourselves, ‘We are crazy,’ it won’t work,” a visibly elated Mr. Zapata told reporters after landing. “And when it does work, it’s just a magical moment.”