Why does Reza 'Ray' Baluchi keep trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a hamster wheel?

While the U.S. Coast Guard was making preparations for Hurricane Franklin last month, they spotted a surprising watercraft off the Georgia/South Carolina coast: a giant hamster wheel, with a Florida man inside it.

Reza "Ray" Baluchi, an ultra-marathon runner, told them he was attempting to run across the Atlantic Ocean to London. It wasn't his first bizarre stunt. It wasn't even his first hamster wheel.

Baluchi was arrested in 2021 when he floated ashore in The Hammock area of Flagler County after trying to "run" to New York in what he called a Hydro Pod "bubble." He also made attempts to run around the Bermuda Triangle in 2014 and 2016, but received a civil penalty of $10,000 from the Coast Guard sector in Miami.

This time he's facing federal criminal charges, according to Fox35, after he resisted the Coast Guard's efforts to collect him, threatened to kill himself with a 12-inch knife and then threatened to blow himself up.

Who is Reza "Ray" Baluchi?

Baluchi, 52, of Boca Raton, is a man with a mission. Born in Iran and trained as a mechanic, he says he was whipped, branded, and hung from a tree by his wrists for breaking rules such as eating during Ramadan and wearing a Michael Jackson T-shirt. He was sentenced to two years in prison for offenses against Islam.

An avid runner and athlete, he was a member of the national cycling team before and after his imprisonment. When he got out after 18 months, he defected to Germany, and when Baluchi was 24 he started biking through other countries to promote peace and oppose authoritarianism. He says he ultimately reached 55 countries on six continents and traveled over 49,700 miles.

Baluchi was arrested in 2020 for attempting to enter the U.S. illegally but he told CNN he was released after he promised to run across America to benefit victims of 9/11, which he did in 2003. He has since run multiple lengthy, attention-getting routes for different causes but always promoting peace and raising money for public services.

Why is Baluchi trying to cross the Atlantic in a hamster wheel?

On his site, Baluchi says he wants to run through 198 recognized countries to "inspire us and unite us as a people" and paddle his Hydro Pod across the ocean "showing the world that anything is possible if you believe."

What is Baluchi's bubble made of?

Baluchi's Hydro Pod is a 10' x 6' wheel of 3-millimeter thick plastic around an aluminum frame with buoys and flotation devices all around the outer rings. There is no motor, he propels it by running, walking or crawling, like a giant hamster wheel.

Bakluchi said in 2021 he could make 6 knots in his bubble, which he says is registered in Florida as a watercraft.

Was Baluchi arrested when he tried to cross the Atlantic in a bubble?

After the Coast Guard approached the vessel 70 miles off the coast of Tybee Island, Georgia, and 60 miles from Georgetown, South Carolina to end a "manifestly unsafe" voyage, Baluchi first threatened to kill himself with a 12-inch knife, according to the criminal complaint. The next day he reportedly threatened to blow himself up, and officers observed him holding wires. The U.S. Navy Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit was called in to help determine a potential blast radius, but Baluchi admitted the next day he made it up.

In all, it took five days before Baluchi was finally brought ashore on Sept. 1, where he faces federal charges of obstruction of a boarding and violation of a Captain of the Port Order.

Baluchi told FOX 35 that the voyage was intended to raise money for charitable causes that include helping the homeless, the Coast Guard and the fire department.

In a release, the U.S. Coast Guard Seventh District said, "U.S. Coast Guard Seventh District crews terminate the manifestly unsafe voyage of Mr. Reza Baluchi and rescued him from his makeshift hydro-pod vessel approximately 60 nautical miles off the coast of Georgetown, South Carolina ahead of Hurricane Idalia.

"The Coast Guard is working with the U.S. Attorney's office to purse federal charges against Mr. Reza Baluchi for his alleged criminal conduct on the high seas."

What happened when Baluchi tried to cross the Atlantic in a bubble in 2014?

In 2014, the Coast Guard received a report that a man floating in an inflatable bubble was "reportedly disoriented and asking for directions to Bermuda."

They found Baluchi 70 miles off the coast of St. Augustine, where he refused to leave the bubble. The Coast Guard monitored his movements for three days until he activated a locator beacon, and then they "hoisted Baluchi from his inflatable raft and transported him to Air Station Clearwater where emergency medical services evaluated him," according to the report.

Baluchi's plan was to run the Bermuda Triangle: 1,000 to Bermuda, another 1,000 miles south to Puerto Rico, and then 1,000 miles back to South Florida.

The Coast Guard said he had only protein bars, bottled water, a GPS and a satellite phone, according to the Miami Herald, and feared he didn't have enough supplies to make the trip, and that they pulled him from the bubble when the locator beacon went off. Baluchi said that was an accident and he had wanted to keep going.

The Coast Guard let the bubble drift after the rescue. It was not recovered.

What happened when Baluchi tried to cross the Atlantic in a bubble in 2016?

Baluchi tried twice in 2016, after working on a crab boat to raise money for a new bubble. The first attempt, in April, was launched from Pompano Beach but he only made it as far as Jupiter, according to the Broward Palm Beach New Times. The Coast Guard told him he needed a support boat or could be imprisoned and fined up to $40,000.

For the second attempt (still without a support boat) a local diver towed Baluchi's bubble out 20 miles offshore and let him go. The Coast Guard send him back once for a half-charged fire extinguisher, stopped him again but found nothing wrong, and stopped him a third time and drifted along with him for three days while he stayed in the bubble.

According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office incident report, Baluchi "pulled out a knife, held it to his chest, and stated that he would kill himself if the U.S.C.G. did not unhook their boat from his raft and allow him to continue his travel." He left the bubble 90 miles from Jacksonville and was arrested and committed to a psychiatric hospital, where he was released the next day. The Coast Guard sank the bubble as they said it posed a hazard to other ships.

“This was an inherently unsafe voyage attempt that put the lives of Mr. Baluchi and other mariners in danger,” Capt. Austin Gould wrote in a statement.

Baluchi denied to the New Times that he threatened his life. "Why would I want hurt myself? I am survivor-man."

What happened when Baluchi tried to cross the Atlantic in a hamster wheel in 2021?

For this aquatic run, Balichi set his sights a little higher and tried to run up the Atlantic Ocean to New York. He told Flagler County deputies that he had set off from St. Augustine and headed south toward Daytona Beach before turning toward his ultimate destination, the Big Apple.

Instead, he floated ashore in The Hammock area of Flagler County and surprised some beachgoers. The deputies contacted the Coast Guard sector Jacksonville, which issued Baluchi an order requiring him to have an escort/support vessel, specific safety/navigation equipment, and a voyage plan prior to any future trip on the bubble, U.S. Coast Guard Public Affairs Specialist 1st Class David Micallef wrote in an email.

Why doesn't Baluchi use safety boats to accompany his trips, as the Coast Guard has required?

"I don't want other people risk their lives for my dream," Baluchi said in 2016. "I am adventurer. If boat go follow you, this no adventure."

What else has Baluchi done?

In 2007, Baluchi ran 11,720 miles around the perimeter of the U.S. as a fundraiser for the Children's Hospital of Denver.

In 2009 he repeated his cross-country run from Los Angeles to New York, picking up an American flag from the White House on the way.

This year, Baluchi ran from Los Angeles to Washington D.C., with a stop in Fort Lauderdale to raise awareness and donations for the homeless.

Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA TODAY, contributed.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida man arrested trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a bubble