Rescue ends watery 1033-mile Florida - Bermuda "bubble run"

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Adventurer attempting to run 1,033 miles from Florida to Bermuda in a giant inflatable bubble is rescued by the Coast Guard - three days after he refused help and asked crew for directions

• U.S. Citizen Reza Baluchi was saved by the coast guard from an inflatable bubble on Saturday 70 miles from St. Augustine Florida
• When first discovered on Wednesday, he was disoriented and asking for directions to Bermuda but he refused to end his journey
• His bubble was stocked with water bottles and protein bars
• He was uninjured
• According to Baluchi's website Runwithreza.org, he was on a mission to travel from Florida to Bermuda to raise money for charity
• He previously ran 135 miles nonstop from Death Valley, California to Mt. Whitney,California
• Baluchi built a plastic Hydro Pod to help him travel across the Bermuda Triangle where ships have been known to disappear mysteriously
• The Bermuda Triangle is one of the deadliest stretches of ocean on Earth. Call him "crazy" but likes to roll the dice,' the adventurer writes on his site
• Baluchi said he his attempting his travels to raise money for impoverished children
the story, pics, a video, and links at Daily Mail link above
 
It was a lovely day at the beach here in St.Augustine today,but I imagine 70 miles out not so much.This man is very lucky the coast guard has been monitoring his insane adventure,if he made to the deep part of the Atlantic ocean the conditions would have turned ugly.With huge swells he would not need to "run" that ball because it would just roll uncontrolably.At the time he was picked up he was in a busy shipping channel running along the coast of Florida along the gulf stream.I can not believe how ill prepared he was with little backup plan. No navigation just asking boaters which way to Bermuda.Teathering to a ball in the water,yeah nothing could go wrong there.And relying on protein bars for food and thinking he was going to catch fish to eat?This person has never been at sea and only has an idea of the ocean from what he has seen in movies,How could anyone let him do this or support his plan?
 
he refused help and then had to be rescued anyway

I hope they send him a bill so that taxpayers aren't burdened with the cost of his recklessness
 
Wow, that is just bizarre and foolish. Why on earth would he put himself into a bubble that he had to power by running and that would regularly heat up to 120 degrees during the day. It just does not make any sense. Obviously there was a lack of good ventilation going on in that. It was clear so there was little shade to be had. It was basically a publicity stunt to bring attention to his own non profit charity and to "inspire those that have lost hope for a better future"

His money and time would have been better spent by simply putting his money, time and effort into actually working with impoverished kids.

From his website (http://runwithreza.org/bermuda.php)

"In 2013 Reza tested his Hydro Pod by taking out from Newport Beach to Catalina Island and it was a great success. It took approximately 12 hours and 33 miles one way. He lost 15 pounds from all the humidity and sweat that was exuded on this trip. Everything went as planned no complications were reported."

Seriously? Losing 15 lbs in 12 hours sounds incredibly dangerous because you know it has to be mostly water weight. So he planned to lose more than a pound an hour in water loss from his body? Sounds like a huge complication to me and a way to become dangerously dehydrated, delirious or even die. All that effort running to power this "bubble" to go a whopping 2.75 miles per hour - not even 3 miles per hour and yet he thought he could go a distance of 1033 miles from Florida to Bermuda?

I just don't even understand. Does anyone have a different view of it? Maybe he had good intentions but it hard to see how anyone heard this and said "Wow, that is great idea!! Sounds awesome! 120 degree heat and losing a pound of water an hour to go not even 3mph, and you have 1033 miles to go? Sign me up!!"
 
This is one of the craziest stunts I 've heard of................good gawd....clear skies and in a clear plastic bubble...not a good combo.

On a side note....Bermuda is quite lovely. hehe
 
Quite probably the first, and very possibly the last, time we'll see these words in sequence again....

a disoriented man in a hydro pod bubble
 
He lost 12 lbs in 15 hours? I am seriously rethinking this.....
 
If anyone wonders, Newport Beach to Catalina Island is about 26 miles, a far cry from a "jog" to Bermuda.
 

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