Story Archive

Can You Walk on Water?

“I believe my heart is love and I simply follow my heart where it takes me, in peace around the world,” says Reza Baluchi, 42. The marathoner once ran the coasts and borders of the United States as a hospital fundraiser. This year he set out to cover the outline of the Bermuda Triangle. Problem: that’s in the middle of the ocean. So Baluchi designed the Hydro Pod — a plastic bubble within a metal structure, propelled by running inside it. The day after he left Miami, Fla., he was spotted 80 miles from shore, asking for directions to Bermuda. Despite Coast Guard concerns and an offer of transportation back to shore, Baluchi kept going, until, the Coast Guard says, fatigue moved him to activate a rescue beacon. The Coast Guard took him back to shore, but left his bubble at sea. Baluchi, who poured all his money into it, wants it back. He also says he didn’t intentionally activate the beacon, didn’t seek the Coast Guard’s help, and could have kept going. (AC/Miami Herald) ...If the Coast Guard had left him alone, one way or another, he’d have no complaints.
Story Update: Baluchi made another attempt in 2021 (not covered in True), and then twice again later — “The Third Time’s the Charm” and “Reinventing the Wheel” in Volume 30.
Original Publication Date: 12 October 2014
This story is in True’s book collections, in Volume 21.

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