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Florida Man Runs to Bermuda in a Giant Bubble

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A Florida man tried to run across the open Atlantic to Bermuda inside a homemade plastic bubble — and the Coast Guard has now stopped him three times.

Reza Baluchi, an Iranian-born endurance athlete based in South Florida, spent nearly two years and $22,000 building a replacement for the “hydro pod” that got him rescued 70 miles off St. Augustine in October 2014. In late April 2016, he launched his second high-profile attempt to cross more than 1,000 miles of open ocean from Pompano Beach to Bermuda, running inside a hamster-wheel-style contraption of 3-millimeter plastic wrapped in an aluminum frame. The Coast Guard had already warned him in writing not to try it.

• Baluchi’s original vessel was destroyed during an October 2014 Coast Guard rescue 70 miles off St. Augustine, an operation estimated at $140,000, after he triggered his locator beacon.
• The Coast Guard sent Baluchi a formal warning letter threatening a $40,000 fine and up to a year in prison if he attempted an ocean crossing without a designated escort support vessel — he set off from Pompano Beach anyway in late April 2016.
• That April voyage ended two days later when the Coast Guard intercepted him roughly 7 miles off Jupiter, Florida; a third attempt off Jacksonville in August 2016 was stopped about 90 miles offshore, ending with crews puncturing the bubble’s buoyancy balls to sink it.

The Hydro Pod

Baluchi’s craft — which he called the hydro pod — was built to be propelled by nothing but his own legs. He ran inside the plastic-and-aluminum wheel while fitted paddles turned that motion into forward movement across the water, the same basic principle as a human-powered hamster ball. Baluchi framed the crossing as a fundraising mission, saying the money raised would go toward public causes, including support for first responders.

The Warning He Ignored

Before Baluchi ever left the dock in 2016, the Coast Guard sent him an official letter spelling out the consequences: a $40,000 fine and up to a year in prison for attempting an unescorted ocean crossing in a vessel officials didn’t consider seaworthy. Baluchi pushed off from Pompano Beach anyway in late April, betting that two years of fundraising and rebuilding had bought him a real shot at reaching Bermuda this time.

Two days out of Pompano Beach, the Coast Guard caught up with him roughly 7 miles off Jupiter — and called the bubble inherently unsafe.

Intercepted Off Jupiter, Then Off Jacksonville

The April 2016 attempt didn’t get far. Crews intercepted Baluchi about 7 miles off Jupiter, Florida, just two days after launch, ending the run before he’d cleared Florida’s coastline. He tried again that August, this time off Jacksonville, and made it roughly 90 miles offshore before the Coast Guard caught him a second time. Rather than tow the hydro pod back, crews punctured its buoyancy balls to sink the craft outright, then brought Baluchi ashore for a psychiatric evaluation.

A Pattern of Rescues

Three attempts, three interventions — each one ending with the Coast Guard treating Baluchi’s bubble less like a vessel and more like a hazard to be neutralized. The $140,000 price tag on the 2014 rescue alone shows why officials stopped tolerating the risk after the first go-round, and why the warning letter came with real financial teeth attached before he even reached open water in 2016.

Baluchi’s runs also echo a familiar Coast Guard storyline off the Florida coast, where crews are just as often intercepting far more dangerous cargo — as seen in another Coast Guard interception of a $69 million cocaine-laden narco sub. Bermuda, meanwhile, remains one of the more improbable open-water targets attempted by endurance athletes, in the same spirit as extreme island survival stunts like the one detailed in survival on the smallest island in the Caribbean. After the August 2016 sinking off Jacksonville, there was no fourth hydro pod in the water — just a punctured bubble at the bottom of the Atlantic and a man walked back onto dry land for evaluation.