Florida Extreme Athlete's Transatlantic Hamster-Wheel Expedition Thwarted by Coast Guard

Ray "Reza" Baluchi's latest attempt to traverse the Atlantic Ocean in what the U.S. Coast Guard has called a "Hamster Wheel of Doom" culminated in a confrontation in which prosecutors claim he held up a knife and threatened to blow himself up if officers interfered with his voyage.The Coast Guard says its cutter first encountered Baluchi on August 26, about 70 nautical miles east of Tybee Island, Georgia, while making preparations for an offshore hurricane. From the comfort of his hydropod — a homemade enclosure that he hops into and propels over waves in a running motion, similar to a hamster wheel — Baluchi professed that he was on his way to London and would not be deterred, according to the Coast Guard's charging document."Officers informed Baluchi that he needed to disembark the vessel onto their small boat since they were terminating his voyage due to it being manifestly unsafe. Baluchi replied that he was armed with a 12-inch knife and would attempt to commit suicide should the USCG officers attempt to remove him from the vessel," the charging document states.Baluchi's public defender has not responded to a request for comment.Federal prosecutors charged the Pompano Beach-based marathoner with obstructing the boarding of a vessel by a federal authority, which carries a maximum five-year sentence. He's also charged with violating a past Coast Guard captain's order that restricted his expeditions.Baluchi has made several previous attempts to trek across the high seas in buoyant homemade vessels. The runner has a penchant for headline-generating athletic feats; he was featured in news outlets nationwide for his cross-country runs , one of which he promoted as a means of funding a Colorado children's hospital.In March, Baluchi attempted to run barefoot across the U.S., saying he was trying to raise awareness about the oppression of women in his home country of Iran. On the second day of his run, he said he sliced open his foot on a piece of glass and stopped at a California tire shop, where he super-glued his wound shut.His hydropod voyages have never gotten near their stated destinations, and the expeditions tend to end with tense encounters with Coast Guard officers explaining to him that his hamster-wheel vessels are a "manifestly unsafe" means of travel on the open seas. In aprofile of Baluchi, footage shows him trying to salvage a prior hydropod voyage by pleading with the Coast Guard to leave him at the mercy of the sea, while he promises he has ample food, supplies, and movies to watch on his laptop.After maritime officers stopped his July 2016 hydropod voyage, Baluchi told New Times the Coast Guard was unjustly impeding his dream."I love Coast Guard," Baluchi said in broken English. "But I don't need save. I just want them to let me go."This time around, Baluchi's voyage led to a three-day standoff with Coast Guard officers, after which he was hauled to a base in Miami Beach and booked on federal charges.The Coast Guard claims at one point during the standoff, Baluchi "displayed two knives" and "threatened to blow himself up," a comment Coast Guard officers took seriously since they saw him "holding wires in his hand," according to the charging document. The Navy Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit in Kings Bay, Georgia, was contacted to determine the "blast and fragmentation radius of the alleged bomb," though the Coast Guard later determined there were no explosives on board, the charging document states.On August 29, the Coast Guard managed to corral Baluchi from his vessel before bringing him to the Miami Beach base on September 1. Baluchi had avoided federal charges in connection with his Coast Guard run-ins until now.Before he was detained, Baluchi posted a series of videos of the journey, calling his latest vessel his "penthouse" and commenting on how beautiful the ocean looked. He described the one-ton vessel as his third-generation design, which made use of a metal cage in place of the bubble enclosure. It boasted a solar-power panel, fishing equipment, and a pump for showers, he said.In a 2016story that tracked his travels and travails , Baluchi said he grew up in Iran, where he was a member of the national cycling team as a youth. He said he was whipped and beaten for not following religious laws, such as restrictions on eating during holy Ramadan celebrations. After defecting to Germany in the early 1990s, he went on a years-long worldwide cycling trip.Baluchi's previous hydropod expeditions in 2014, 2016, and 2021 all prompted intervention by the Coast Guard. Baluchi generally insists on making the treks without a safety boat to accompany him to ensure he's all right.chronicled how his July 2016 attempt to reach Bermuda in a floating bubble was stifled by the Coast Guard, leading to a purported standoff similar to the one alleged in his latest hydropod mission. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office claimed he refused to leave his pod and pulled out a knife, stating he would kill himself if the Coast Guard did not unhook their boat from his vessel.But Baluchi denied as much in the 2016 interview, insisting, "Why would I want hurt myself? I am survivor-man.""My message is... no matter how many times you fail, you can do it," Baluchi said.