Human Hamster Wheel: Reza Baluchi was intercepted by Coast Guard 110km into a 7000km Atlantic crossing. Photo / Flagler County Sheriff's Office
Human Hamster Wheel: Reza Baluchi was intercepted by Coast Guard 110km into a 7000km Atlantic crossing. Photo / Flagler County Sheriff's Office
A man has been arrested in a boat resembling a giant “hamster wheel” after a three-day standoff, claiming he was trying to run across the Atlantic.
Reza Baluchi, 44, was intercepted by the US Coast Guard 110km off the coast of Georgia.
US Coast Guard cutter Valiant stopped the improvised watercraft on August 26, but he refused to comply with orders to disembark his homemade Hydro Pod vessel.
The Coast Guard was patrolling ahead of the approaching storm Hurricane Franklin when it spotted the object.
Baluchi, the sole occupant of the hamster wheel, gave his intended destination as “London, England”, a distance of 7000km.
In court documents filed on Monday by the Southern District of Florida, Coast Guard special agent Michael A. Perez said stopped the unsanctioned record attempt out of safety concerns.
“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,” said Perez.
Baluchi had set off on the solo crossing, unannounced and without a safety vessel or support crew.
The criminal complaint says Baluchi did not comply, instead threatening self-harm with a 30cm knife and at one point claiming he had a bomb aboard the vessel.
This began a three-day standoff, which ended late on August 29, when USCG officers in a small launch were able to “safely disembark Baluchi from the vessel”.
It was later determined the bomb was a hoax.
This morning, the #FCSO responded to a call about a vessel washing ashore in the Hammock area.
— Flagler County Sheriff’s Office (@FlaglerSheriff) July 24, 2021
The court heard that the man was known to the US Coast Guard and this was not the first time they had fished Baluchi out of improvised boats.
Attempts to “run” across the Atlantic had been stopped by Coast Guard in 2014, 2016 and 2021.
During a previous attempt to “run” from Florida to New York in 2021, Baluchi’s vessel was washed ashore in Flagler County.
Iranian-born Baluchi is a self-styled adventurer who has made it his life’s goal to set records in his watercraft, which he refers to as a “bubble”.
He has raised money for charities through similar endurance-based feats, including running across the United States, California to Washington, barefoot.
Previous records and a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign set up by Baluchi have raised money “to bring awareness to the plight of the women of Iran and to advance human rights in our country”.
Reza "Ray" Baluchi is an Iranian-born athlete who has made many endurance record attempts. Photo / GoFundMe
Strangest Atlantic crossing attempts
Baluchi’s record attempt may have been quashed by safety concerns, but is not the oddest recorded method of crossing the Atlantic.
The Guinness Book of Records lists over three dozen methods of crossing the 6000km ocean: “Hydro-pod” is not one of them.
Thor Heyerdahl drifted across the Atlantic in 57 days on a paper raft in 1970.
In 1980 Jaromir Wagner, a car salesman from Germany became the first person to fly across the Atlantic standing on the wings of a De Havilland Islander propeller plane.
