Around nine in the evening on October 1, 2025, paddler Micheal Walther had just turned in for the night, crawling into the cabin of his modified expedition paddleboard when he heard a loud banging sound. Just 13 days into his transatlantic solo journey from southern Portugal to French Guiana, the paddlecraft had collided with an unidentified object in the Mid-Atlantic.
Stuck by a UFO (Unidentified Floating Object)
Walther’s modified paddleboard suffered damage to navigation gear and the antenna, as well as the cabin. Walther, a German athlete and environmental activist, was attempting the journey as part of a mission to raise awareness about climate protection through the Zero Emissions Project, which Walther and Thomas Reinke began in 2007.
“Good evening, or well, medium evening for me,” Walther said in the video taken shortly after the collision. “I just went to bed about half an hour ago to get some sleep.”
It was then that the collision occurred according to Walther.
“It banged one or two times…I was laying in the cabin. It was a really loud bang. I flew through the cabin once.” Walther shared that the modified paddleboard tipped to lay completely on its side and he hit his shoulder on the ground. Then, the paddlecraft straightened up and Walther crawled out of the cabin to assess the damage.
“I’ve completely lost my navigation lamp, i.e. my posi light… and what’s even worse, it’s completely torn open up here,” added Walther, gesturing through the dark to a missing chunk of the modified paddleboard, torn completely off. Walther also shared that his antenna was missing.
“I now have a huge hole in the cabin here… the entire exterior is completely scratched. I have no idea what that was in the water,” said Walther.
Luckily, Walther himself was not injured seriously and he was able to make his way back to safe harbor.
“I think I probably got hit by a wave and rolled over halfway,” said Walther. “I can’t imagine it any other way. I have no idea what happened there.”
Walther was 13 days into his expedition, which he ultimately called off due to the damage to his paddlecraft. On October 2, 2025, Walther reached Puerto del Rosario, a city in the Canary Islands, at one in the morning.
“After having contact with a UFO (unknown floating object) around nine pm, I am happy to be in a safe harbor now,” Walther wrote on Instagram.
Micheal Walther makes a video documenting his experience after experiencing the collision. Feature Image: Zero Emissions | APT YouTube
