Adventurer trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Britain in a home-made
An adventurer who was trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Britain in a home-made hamster wheel has been arrested.
Reza Baluchi, 51, was detained 70 nautical miles into his journey off Tybee Island, Georgia, after a three-day standoff with US coastguards.
The Iranian national, who lives in Florida, was attempting to make the 5000 nautical mile journey on a human-powered vessel that is in the shape of a hamster wheel.
The contraption consists of a metal drum, with paddle wheels on either side which are buoyant, theoretically allowing him to run across the waves.
On August 26 the USS Coast Guard cutter Valiant intercepted him at sea before he allegedly threatened anyone attempting to arrest gum that he would take his own life with a 12-inch knife and that he had a bomb onboard his vessel, according to Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
Baluchi’s vessel, a giant hamster wheel, was declared unsafe. He was using it to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Britain
Reza Baluchi (pictured during a previous attempt) was detained 70 miles into his journey which he was trying to make in a human powered hamster wheel
On August 26 the USS Coast Guard cutter Valiant intercepted him at sea and attempted to arrest him
After two days Baluchi finally admitted that there was no bomb on his hamster wheel and another day later he joined officers on their boat.
He was brought ashore on September 1 and faces federal charges of obstruction of a boarding and violation of a Captain of the Port order.
‘Based on the condition of the vessel – which was afloat as a result of wiring and buoys – USCG officers determined Baluchi was conducting a manifestly unsafe voyage,’ the criminal complaint filed in US District Court in Florida stated.
It is not the first time Baluchi has attempted to use the hamster wheel to travel across the ocean.
In July 2021 he tried to travel from Miami to New York City for charity but was washed ashore on a Florida beach not far from where he set off.
Deputies from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene at a beach in Hammock, near Miami, after concerned residents reported seeing the unusual cylindrical vessel.
When they arrived, they said, they found Baluchi safe inside without any injuries.
Baluchi reportedly told the authorities he was trying to run in the floating vessel from Florida to New York to raise money for charity but ‘came across some complications that brought him back to shore,’ the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office explained in a Facebook post following the rescue.
‘My goal is not only raise money for homeless people, raise money for the Coast Guard, raise money for the police department, raise money for the fire department,’ Baluchi told FOX 35 News.
‘They are in public service, they do it for safety and they help other people.’
Deputies from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene of a Hammock, Florida beach in 2021
Baluchi told FOX 35 he planned the trip to raise money for charity
He reportedly carries around a GPS with him on each of his treks, so family and friends know where he is at all times, and carries enough food and water to keep him safe and can ‘survive anywhere for days and weeks,’ his friend, Gina Laspina told the local news channel.
But this is far from the first time Baluchi had to be rescued from one of his floating vessels, which he calls a ‘bubble’.
Baluchi had to be rescued from a ‘hydro-bubble’ near Saint Augustine in 2014 when he had attempted to journey 3,000 miles from Florida to Bermuda.
And in 2016 he had to be rescued off the coast of Jupiter. Miami Coast Guard spent 12 hours trying to coax him out of his homemade inflatable bubble after already warning him not to attempt a ‘life-threatening’ 3,500 mile ocean journey.
Ahead of that trip, Baluchi had been given a written warning by the Coast Guard not to attempt the five month trip from Pompano Beach, Florida, bound for Bermuda via the Caribbean. Officials said it was too dangerous, and put him and other sailors at risk.