Reza Baluchi of Iran has raised significant sums of money for U.S. charities though biking and running campaigns, but his latest attempt to circumnavigate the Bermuda Triangle in a "hydro-bubble" left him calling for a Coast Guard rescue.
According to The Miami Herald, Baluchi was paddling forth in his home-built hamster wheel Saturday roughly 80 miles off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida, when he became overheated and exhausted after five days at sea.
Baluchi began his journey on Tuesday, and the Coast Guard began following him the next day.
By Thursday, Coast Guard officials were asking him to discontinue the trip. Capt. Todd Coggeshall reached Baluchi on his satellite phone, which he had brought on his trip along with protein bars, bottled water, and a GPS system.
Coggeshall told Baluchi he would never make it at the rate he was going. Baluchi was determined to keep going, however, and rebuffed the Guard's request to abort the charity mission.
"I've been two years practicing for this," Baluchi told Coggeshall over the phone. "I don’t know what I can do . . . I will continue, though."
By Saturday, he'd apparently had enough, and activated his Personal Locating Beacon, which signaled Coast Guard officials, who approached to check up on him.
When the patrolmen arrived, Baluchi was reportedly disoriented and asking for directions. That's when the Coast Guard took action, rescuing him from the hydro-bubble and transporting him back to land.
He reportedly had no injuries.
The Herald later reported that Baluchi was upset that his bubble was not also rescued. He'd reportedly been told that a fisherman would tow it to shore, but said Sunday he has no idea where it is.
"I go around running, telling people, if you have a dream, you can do anything," he said. "Now I’m here, no money, no bubble, no anything."
On his website, Baluchi described what he anticipated life in the bubble would be like.
"A typical day will be, Reza will be sleeping from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., will wake up to start running until his body becomes too hot, he will then jump into the sea to cool himself off with a leash strapped to his leg connected to the bubble," the site reads. "He will sleep on a hammock that will be inside the bubble."
Previously, in 2007, Baluchi ran the perimeter of the United States to raise money for Children's Hospital of Denver, racking up 202 consecutive days on the trail.
Baluchi was born in Iran, and was granted political asylum in the U.S. in 2002.
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