[2] Equipped with a specially designed sailboard and accompanied by a supply boat,[3] he embarked from Dakar, Senegal on his first, though unsuccessful, attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean on 28 November 1981.

[4] His second attempt, on 12 December 1981, was successful and he arrived in Kourou, French Guiana, on 18 January 1982,[5] making him the first person to cross the Atlantic on a sailboard.

[9] On 25 July 2000, Marty served as captain onboard Air France Flight 4590, operating the route from Paris to New York City.

Accompanied by first officer Jean Marcot and flight engineer Gilles Jardinaud, Marty commenced a routine taxi down the runway to takeoff.

It crashed into a hotel located in Gonesse, near Charles de Gaulle Airport, claiming the lives of all 109 people onboard the aircraft as well as four additional individuals on the ground.