US man arrested after trying to travel the Atlantic in a hamster wheel
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Baluchi made his fourth attempt at an expedition with his makeshift vessel in August.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
While the US Coast Guard was preparing for an incoming hurricane, they stumbled upon another spectacle – a man trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a vessel which resembled a giant hamster wheel.
Reza Baluchi, 51, was detained by the coast guard about 130km east of Georgia on Aug 26, reported USA Today.
The former cyclist was trying to travel more than 6,400km from Florida to London in a homemade contraption kept afloat by its buoys, which was judged by the coast guard to be “manifestly unsafe”.
After being arrested last Friday, the Florida resident was charged in federal court in Miami for obstruction of boarding and violation of a Captain of the Port order.
Officials told USA Today that Baluchi initially refused to leave his hydropod vessel, claiming he was armed with a 30cm knife and threatening to kill himself.
He also claimed to have a bomb on board and held up wires, threatening to blow himself up upon the coast guard’s attempts to get him to step out of his vessel, stated the criminal complaint.
He eventually admitted the bomb threat was not real and surrendered his vessel three days later, reported the BBC.
Baluchi was released on Tuesday on US$250,000 (S$341,000) bond, according to court documents, which stated he “may not go to the ocean or board a vessel on to the ocean”, New York Times reported.
This is not Baluchi’s first voyage attempt with a vessel – all his expeditions, held in 2014, 2016 and 2021, were unsuccessful due to coast guard interception.
The Iranian native stunned beachgoers in 2021 when his attempt to travel to New York from Florida went awry, washing up at a county in Florida just 40km from his starting point.
He also attempted trips in 2014 and 2016 to Bermuda and Puerto Rico, all of which were halted by the coast guard.
His expeditions are driven by charitable causes, said Baluchi in a 2021 interview with television station WOFL-TV in Orlando.
“My goal is to not only raise money for homeless people, but raise money for the coast guard, raise money for the police department, raise money for the fire department,” he said.
“They are in public service, they do it for safety, and they help other people.”
