Another darwin at sea rescue. Time to start charging.

[Bruce]

There are no words for this one except he has sponsors. Send him a bill.


http://www.wptv.com/news/state/reza-bal ... rida-coast

(CNN) -- An ultra-marathoner trying to "run" from Florida to Bermuda in a human-powered inflatable bubble was rescued Saturday morning after he signaled for help, the Coast Guard said.

Reza Baluchi, according to his website, has set a goal of running across more than 190 recognized nations to encourage world peace. CNN ran a story about him in 2012.

The Coast Guard first encountered Baluchi on Wednesday when they found him in the bubble off the coast of Miami, disoriented and asking for directions to Bermuda, a Coast Guard press release said. It was not clear when he started his quest.

The Coast Guard described the craft as a "hydro pod bubble" and a man in a 2013 YouTube video called a Baluchi bubble "a big hamster wheel." It moved along the ground as Baluchi ran inside.

In the press release, the Coast Guard said Baluchi had protein bars, bottled water, a GPS and a satellite phone. The Coast Guard conveyed the voyage's dangers and asked Baluchi to quit his journey because he didn't have enough supplies. But he wouldn't leave his vessel, officials said.

The Coast Guard monitored his progress and on Saturday morning an exhausted Baluchi activated his personal locating beacon, the Coast Guard said.

A Coast Guard HC-130 airplane and MH-60 helicopter, along with the vessel Maersk Montana, were sent to rescue Baluchi 70 nautical miles east of St. Augustine, the Coast Guard said.

He was exhausted and taken to the Coast Guard air station in Clearwater, where his medical condition was evaluated. There were no reported injuries, the Coast Guard said.

"Part of his effort was to make world peace but he got caught up in the Gulf Stream," said Coast Guard public affairs specialist Mark Barney. "The chances of muscling out of the Gulf Stream were pretty low."

Baluchi could not be reached for comment, but a video posted on Baluchi's Facebook page described his plans to travel in the bubble across the Caribbean, as well as his other athletic exploits.

The CNN.com story quoted Baluchi saying he'd run across the United States twice and around its perimeter once. He fled Iran to escape persecution, he said. Now he is an American citizen.

"Reza doesn't listen to anyone," Davis Hyslop, a businessman and one of Baluchi's supporters, said in the 2012 story. "He has these outsized ambitions that he sets his mind to. He's a success above and beyond anyone's expectations. It's almost biblical. But you gotta be a little crazy to undertake such an endeavor, right?"

™ & © 2014 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

[Navatech]

Nothing wrong with the effort itself... But, he or his sponsors should have provided his own support boat... Now he or sponsors should pay the bill...

[MarkS]

Thank you sir, may I have another...........

[mike ohlstein]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFqiuWHN2Mo

[STraenkle]

Sounds like Forest Gump....

[Rawleigh]

Run Forest, run . . .

[PeterPalmieri]

Without a doubt this guy should be getting a bill in the mail for this one.

[Rawleigh]

or committed for being a danger to himself and others!!!

[IRGuy]

As I have said here before, I have a good friend who holds the record for the longest single handed survival at sea alone in an inflatable. He spent 76 days in his life raft after his homemade sailboat sank 6 days out of the Azores after dropping out of a singlehanded race from Europe to the Caribbean.

His parents (non sailors) wanted the Navy or the Coast Guard to search for him. They were told by both with no idea where he might be or when his boat had disappeared they weren't going to search the whole Atlantic for him. When I spoke with him about this he said he knew the risks he was taking, and he never expected anyone to search for him. He knew pretty much everybody would think he was foolhardy, and he had prepared for emergencies, and in fact that preparation kept him alive.

I believe when people do stupid things and they should know better, they should pay the costs of the search if one is requested. As I have also said here In 1985 I was at the helm of a sailboat returning from Bermuda to Mass, when we were dismasted 165 nm south of Nantucket. With a major storm predicted for the next day we tripped the epirb, and we had the canister holding the life raft on deck ready to deploy. We knew the mast was hitting the underside of the hull because a bunch of rigging still connected it to the boat.. we also knew that this has sunk boats in the past. We had all the tools we needed and within an hour we had cut it loose. We had some fuel, but not enough to get us to the nearest land. We were getting ready to rig an emergency antenna and an emergency mast when a Coast Guard SAR plane flew down our line of position and we were able to talk to them on one of our backup radios. The plane had been searching for an overdue boat when they were vectored to look for us as well. They had a cutter returning from drug interdiction work in the Caribbean and within 18 hours they reached us. They launched a RIB and a heavily armed party boarded us, and conducted a thorough search of our gear and every nook and cranny of the boat. They told us ours was one of the best equipped and prepared boats they had boarded. They then gave us enough fuel to reach port.

Maybe you could say we should have paid for that service, but as the boarding officer told us, that is one of the things we pay our taxes for. You could say we also should pay for getting our mail delivered, or having our food safe, or having our house saved when it was on fire, and in fact we are, by paying our taxes. I personally have no angst because we called for help, and I respect the great job the Coast Guard does. But in our society today there is a difference between being prepared and responsible and being stupidly dependent on others. An idiot in a hamster wheel trying to travel 1,000 miles with some protein bars and a few gallons of water is not the same as 6 guys in a well equipped 44' boat who had taken more than minimal precautions if an emergency arose. And yes, I understand there will be those who say we didn't have to be traveling 700 miles of open ocean when we could have stayed home and watched TV.

To each his own!

[Navatech]

I understand there will be those who say we didn't have to be traveling 700 miles of open ocean when we could have stayed home and watched TV.

To each his own!

Not this guy... And your case is a text book example of somebody who should get service free... However, the "hamster wheel" people are another story...

[Bruce]

Frank,

We'll excuse you because we know you.....but a sailboat of any size almost qualifies on equal ground as that blow up bounce ball.

You brought a smile back for me. I used to do a bunch of sail boats because of the Yanmar and Universal dealerships. I'd get calls that the engine wouldn't start. Go out, drain some fuel and it would smell like pure varnish. Most of them sailboats under 42' had 10, 15 gallon tanks. I asked one guy when was the last time you filled up. He told me 8 years ago and I fell down laughing so hard. When he asked what was so funny I told him he was a cheap son o bitch and get someone to drain his tank, open his wallet and put some fresh fuel in there.

I know the air is free, but since fuel isn't, thats the rub huh? :-P

[IRGuy]

Bruce..

Thanks for the free pass.. and please understand I know the reputation sailboat owners have among power boaters.. I have been dealing with it for 40+ years. I have said here before, I have met sailors who were jerks, and I have met powerboaters who also were. I believe any time you venture offshore, regardless of what powers your boat, you have an obligation to your crew to put the safest boat possible under them. Anyone who has done this knows boating is an expensive sport. Fuel costs are only one of many expenses that need to be paid to be able to go offshore. One thing I do believe is that, because sailors are driven by wind, they are often more understanding of weather and the conditions one might encounter at sea. Powerboaters get a free pass on this.. mainly because being a lot faster than sailors they can run to safety faster.

To me the appeal of sailing isn't that it is cheap.. anybody who has ever bought a new mainsail can attest to that. I sailed for several reasons.. mainly I enjoyed the comraderie, the challenges of being on the open ocean for a week or 10 days at a time, and the fact that in a sailboat your range isn't limited by the volume of your fuel tank. I personally take pride in having skippered an injured friend's sailboat from Bermuda to Mass twice, with the first trip encountering the worst weather I have ever been exposed to on the ocean. Having 5 other trusting person's life in my hands is not something I take lightly.

The complaining about sail vs power probably began when the first guy installed a coal fired boiler and steam engine on his boat, and I expect it will continue until nuclear power runs everybody's boat.

It is a big ocean.. there is room for everybody.

NOTE: Please notice that in the above I haven't once used the terms "ragbagger" or "stinkpot"!

[STraenkle]

Personally, I think every person who owns a powerboat should know how to sail also, or at least understand what it is like. Many power boaters just have money enough to buy it, but no experience with the handling of a vessel. I remember a few years ago coming back into Oak Bluffs Harbor after a race. The boats were tacking in and it was a fairly light wind in a very narrow channel, so sitting behind them waiting and pop it gear every once in a while when a guy passes me in a 40+ Carver on the port and then tries to pass the sailboats, and screams at the 6 19 foot slope Gem sail boats tacking in, "Stop zig zagging in the channel !!", I laughed too loud for I know almost every one of the sailors and one of them was Todd Alexander, the Harbor Master of OB. He stood up in the boat turned around and pointed to the back of his shirt reading "Oak Bluffs Harbor Master". Needless to say the guy got a little education after he docked in one of the town slips.

I don't think you know boating unless you know how to sail also.

[Kevin]

Scott,
That is one heck of a blanket statement! You get a pass though since you are a member.
I hope my time as a child on a 14' sailboat counts. Losing my street cred would suck!

[TailhookTom]

I sailed on a 40 something foot something or other in Hawaii -- I puked, more than once, that's it for my sailing experience. But, to keep my street cred intact, when the captain sailed into a bay for snorkeling and lunch I told him I was getting off and not going back for the "afternoon sail." But sir, he said, you won't be able to find your way back. Dude, we are on an island, it's basically round, when we left the harbor land was on my left so as long as I keep land on my right I will get back where I started. Plus, we were basically in a bay next to the bay the harbor was in, it was literally a 30 minute hike around the corner. With no puking, did I mention I puked a lot?

Tom