He may be an inspiration to both extreme athletes and hamsters alike, but Reza Baluchi's recent bid to "run" from Florida to New York has come to a frustrating and anticlimactic end. Per the Sun Sentinel, the Flagler County Sheriff's Office reported that the 49-year-old washed ashore a beach in St. Augustine, Fla., on Saturday, 30 miles south of where he'd set off the day before in a contraption he calls a "hydropod," in his quest to make it 1,000 miles north to the Empire State. However, Baluchi "came across some complications" that truncated his journey, the sheriff's department noted on Facebook, showing photos of what the Guardian calls Baluchi's "strange vessel," a "barrel-type" structure that appears to be held up by flotation devices. The Coast Guard "arrived on scene to take over the case and ensure the vessel/occupant are USCG compliant," said the sheriff's post.
The USCG has a history with Baluchi, per a previous CNN article, which indicates Baluchi tried to use his hydropod to get from Florida to Bermuda, both in 2016 and in 2014. A ticked-off Coast Guard had to rescue him both times, declaring his voyage to be "manifestly unsafe"; the 2014 rescue cost nearly $150,000, per WPLG. This time, an uninjured Baluchi says he was forced to turn back after he discovered some of his safety and navigation gear had been stolen. Baluchi, who came to the States in 2002 as a refugee from Iran, is no stranger to extreme living: He's hunkered down in a tent in Death Valley, run from one side of the US to the other (twice), and even made an 11,000-mile-plus trek around the nation's perimeter. He raises money for these stunts, he says, to support the homeless, the Coast Guard, and first responders. He plans to try his New York trip again. (More strange stuff stories.)
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