Coast Guard arrests a man trying to run a giant hamster wheel across the Atlantic

 Mr. Baluchi is a 44-year-old marathon runner, who crafted a makeshift “hamster wheel” of sorts. Sources say that Mr. Baluchi took his contraption into the Atlantic as officials were preparing for a large hurricane in the area. The US Coast Guard determined however his craft was unsafe and he was conducting a manifestly unsafe voyage. The “hamster wheel” was shaped as a wheel and included paddles that were supposed to propel the craft forward as the wheel would spin. When he was ordered to step off the vessel he refused and told authorities a multitude of things, such as threatening to harm himself and claiming he had a bomb aboard. This was also not Mr. Baluchi’s first time running into trouble with the Coast Guard, in 2021 he was arrested after being retrieved trying to go from Florida to New York in the “bubble.” As well as, being in a similar situation in 2014 involving being rescued from St Augustine and again in 2016 near Palm Beach in Florida. His explanation for the attempted voyages was that he wanted to raise money for many different causes, such as homelessness, police, fire department, and even the Coast Guard themselves.

I find this article interesting because of how persistent the man was during his attempt to take the vessel out into different parts of the ocean. I am also intrigued because I am curious to know how the man expected to raise money off of this. The article didn’t mention how Mr. Baluchi intended to collect the donations in this case, and I am curious to know. However, even with the lack of planning, I do respect the man's dedication to achieving his goal. Even though he was raising money for homelessness, police, the fire department, and the Coast Guard, it could have been done in a way that didn’t involve breaking the law in the process. I also find this situation pretty ironic because the man’s so-called “purpose” for doing this is to raise money partially for law enforcement, yet the man is simultaneously wasting police and coast guard resources by making them have to deal with him using the “hamster wheel.”

Published by Marisa Potts, December 1st, 2023

Originally written, 3:52 PM ET, September 7th, 2023, by Laurel Wamsley

Florida man arrested after trying to cross Atlantic in hamster wheel vessel (bbc.com)