A thrill seeker Floridian was busted trying to run across the Atlantic in what is effectively a giant hamster wheel but was stopped by authorities.
Man Vs. Ocean
A serial adventurer intercepted off the South Carolina coast during his latest attempt to cross the Atlantic in a makeshift “hydropod” was charged with criminal conduct on the high seas after holding off US Coast Guard crews with a knife and threats of a homemade bomb, court papers said.
Reza Baluchi, 44, an Iranian-born resident of Florida, was stopped 70 miles from Georgetown in the vessel resembling a giant hamster wheel.
He reportedly told his rescuers he planned to “run” more than 4,000 miles more to cross the ocean to London.
Photos showed him in the middle of the quirky homemade contraption, or Hydro Pod, consisting of a metal drum with inflatable buoys on each side, as well as paddles powered by him running inside the ball.
“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 affidavit said.
Officers observed the contraption held together by wire and buoys but efforts to board it failed when Baluchi “replied that he was armed with a 12in knife and would attempt to commit suicide should the USCG officers attempt to remove him”.
Baluchi’s bizarre attempt to reinvent the wheel dramatically backfired as he was hit with federal charges for obstruction of boarding and violation of a Captain of the Port order.
Baluchi’s has previously been stopped making similar stunts on his Hydro Pod in 2014, 2016 and 2021.
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