Iranian American ultrarunner Reza Baluchi was rescued by the Coast Guard on Saturday while attempting to “run” more than a thousand miles between Florida and Bermuda, . Baluchi was running in a custom-made inflatable bubble that allowed him to run across water. He was equipped with supplies and a satellite phone.
, the Coast Guard first encountered Baluchi on Wednesday after receiving reports of a disoriented man off the coast of Miami asking for directions to Bermuda. Baluchi insisted on continuing, and the Coast Guard monitored his progress until he activated his emergency beacon 70 miles off the coast of St. Augustine.
Baluchi was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter and evaluated at the Coast Guard station in Clearwater, Florida. He does not appear to have been injured. Coast Guard public affairs specialist Mark Barney told CNN that Baluchi had been caught up in the Gulf Stream. “The chances of muscling out of the Gulf Stream were pretty low,” Barney was quoted as saying.
Baluchi had previously run 3,300 miles between New York and Los Angeles in 43 days and more than 11,000 miles around the perimeter of the United States.