Man arrested after trying to run from Florida to London in a makeshift hamster wheel
Reza Baluchi was spotted in a "manifestly unsafe" vessel, which resembled a hamster wheel, around 70 miles from the east coast of the United States. He refused to come off and had threatened to blow himself up, in what turned out to be a hoax.
Reza Baluchi, 44, was spotted about 70 miles off Georgia by the US Coast Guard (USCG) - and allegedly claimed he wanted to keep going all the way to the UK on 26 August.
According to court documents, the USCG judged the makeshift boat was "manifestly unsafe" and kept afloat by buoys and wiring.
This marked the end of Mr Baluchi's latest run-in with the coast guard, the papers allege, with previous incidents involving a similar homemade vessel in 2014, 2016 and 2021.
6 comments:
That "vessel" looks like the "moon rovers" my brothers and I used to make with an old cotton reel and a pencil and elastic bands. You cut knotches in the rims of the reel to give traction, and wind up the elastic band with the pencil, which then braces against the table, forcing the reel to rotate and drag the whole thing forward.
Sam - we made them too. There was a design involving a short piece of candle as a kind of bearing but it was tricky to make.
Me too! problem with the candle was not making it, rather it worked too well, too much power to the lever, not enough weight to keep the wheel on the floor.
djc - as I remember our versions, the piece of candle worked well when my parents showed us how to make them in the fifties, but when I made them for our kids it worked as you found - too well.
He should have attempted to cross the Channel in his wheel, no worry about landing in court, he would have been greeted with a stay in a 4* hotel and asked if he needed anything,
He would not even have lost his 'wheel' it would be lodged in safe keeping should he wish to return with all the other 'craft' held in Dover for the owners.
Wiggia - and if he can do 70 miles he should have had no problems.
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