An ultra-marathoner’s attempt to “run” from Florida to Bermuda in an inflatable bubble was cut short when the Coast Guard towed him back to land – for the second time.
https://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/25/us/bubble-man-rescue/index.html
I see from his Wikipedia page that trying to run across the ocean in a bubble is kinda his thing, but seriously, the only “successful” trip he’s apparently made so far is a 30 mile one from Newport Beach, CA to Catalina Island. He needs to island-hop from Florida to the Bahamas to the Antilles or something instead of trying to YOLO straight from a 30-mile trip to a 1,000-one. And he needs to quit skipping out on having a support boat.
I mean, anything that can’t be done in a day is going to be a serious issue. Unless he has an anchor in there with him. Which he obviously doesn’t. So when he sleeps, he could be drifting anywhere. Does he have mariner level gps in there? He wouldn’t be able to power it without a battery, and that would only last so long, unless he also has a solar panel in there with him…and he would have to carry it all when he’s…running across the ocean.
I mean, this guy is pretty crazy, but he’s not really outside the realm of what other people trying to break records are doing. He’s just has slightly less well-engineered equipment than most.
For example, here’s a guy who tried to break the record for smallest sailboat crossing the Atlantic recently:
Here’s one designed to circumnavigate the world:
This woman rowed across the Atlantic by herself (not the first, either, but apparently the youngest):
These attempters should hang out for a few hours, have a Dark 'n Stormy in some dive and compare notes. It might save lives. “Hey, you crave attention AND extreme danger to distract you from feeling so alone in a crowd? Me, too!”
But that costs money and would bring him less of the attention that he craves.
Last I heard of this guy was last year during attempt #4 Source
would you not just bake inside that thing?
The article quotes him saying it can get to 120F in that thing. No thank you.
That’s 49° for the rest of us.
Or 322 kelvins for all the Kelvins out there
Or 560°R (Rankine, the Fahrenheit-based alternative to Kelvin).
0°R = 0K
But seriously though, who the Hell has ever used Rankine? The SI system of measurement is older than the discovery of absolute zero, so there was never a reason for that bastard unit of measurement to exist in the first place, except to be a contrarian asshole.
Maybe over there, they use it to give temperature differences a proper unit. Where we use Kelvin, they probably use degree Rankine.
Over where? Here in the US, where I am? Even as an American I think that shit is ridiculous.
Or 39.2 ºRé for Réaumur folk
sure, in your timeline, maybe.
Heh
The story didn’t mention him bringing edibles
It seems like it might be… implied? :-P
Yes.
coast guard should fine him for littering the sea with plastic garbage. If he wants to die in the ocean he should do it like everyone else
Sorry, how does everyone else die in the ocean?
Diving to see the Titanic
KaBoom?
More of a pffffffslllumphooom - BOOOMph.
Pop
I believe that was the joke
Being seduced by sirens of course.
Jump off the Golden Gate Bridge?
They identify as shark food.
Maybe he had a box for trash?
Congratulations! You are being rescued. Please do not resist.
This sounds like it could be a fun experience for a day, weather permitting. More than that is insanity.
My first thought: chilling in the bubble … “I need to shit. Oh, oh no. Oh fuck me, no.”
You’d think the bubble would have a poop hole.
I do like a good poop hole.
Did you mean for an hour?
Nah, I like longer experiments. It’s conceivable to pack enough food and water for a whole day.
does he shit inside it??
I imagine there must be an opening to let air in sometimes.
Only in. No out. Perfect for smellz.
Only in. It’s his size. His perfect size!
Everybody loves their own vintage
He probably shits out the hole he fishes through.
In all my years in the industry I’ve learned to follow this simple rule: never shit out the hole you fish through.
Seems like you should have an in hole and an out hole :(
Any hole can be an in hole
👉😎👉
He should do it again if he managed to raise $144k for charity!
I mean that’s how much was spent on his rescue…
how on earth do you spend 144k to tow some air bubble back to the coast?
Salaries for the entire crew of a Coast Guard cutter (100+ people) for however long it took to find and retrieve him would be a big-ticket item. Plus all the fuel and other operational costs for the cutter, along with the same for a C-130 search plane, MH-60 rescue helicopter, and whatever other stuff they used.
Hiring a boat, a chopper or two and supporting a healthy military industrial complex.
Boat fuel isn’t cheap, and those ships are thirsty.
I need a cake = $
I need a wedding cake = $$$$
I need fuel = $
I need boat fuel = $$$$$$
checks out
how much for a boat cake? wedding fuel?
About tree fiddy
E: “and do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded w-”
“GIVE ME FUEL GIVE ME FIRE GIVE ME THAT WHICH I DESIREEE”
“damn it guys NOT YET!”
Ow, I just had surgery and you made me laugh so hard, my stitches do not find it funny. Carry on, though. o7
:D sorry
It’s true. Boat fuel is just more expensive cuz it’s fuel they bought from the gas station and put by the water, unlike say jet fuel.
Well yeah, it’s a huge hassle to put fueling stations in the sky. Very dangerous to stop for a top-up. And every year, dozens of stations are obliterated by planes travellings through clouds and other poor conditions. These tragic events are known as turbulence.
in the arms of an angel starts playing
“In the arms of a buuubble, the weed flies away frooomm herrree …fell out the bilge hole…in the weedlessness that you fear …”
If you need it in a hurry, add 5 more $.
Aviation fuel, marine fuel. Spendy.
That hammock in the middle of that bubble… That sounds like an amazing nights sleep.
Until the waves are 100x the bubble lol
I don’t know, still seems cool.
Sure, but do you really think he’s going to be able to run up a 30 ft wave?
Let the boy run across the ocean in a bubble!
https://media.tenor.com/VAbJK26NHWoAAAAM/chrisfarley-chris.gif
Just leave them.
How does he breathe, and if there are valves, how do they let in only air and not water, considering the ball is spinning?
Is this really a rescue? Is there anything inherently dangerous about going out to sea in an enclosed bubble with rations?
If you have any clue how big an ocean is, then yes, it’s a rescue from absolute stupidity. And from starvation, sun burn, dehydration. But mostly from stupidity.
I would be more worried about oxygen than the things you mentioned.
I imagined a small hole he could open and close on it, how else would he fish and poop? Didn’t read, so maybe I misunderstood.
IIRC oxygen is mostly for the brain, so he’d probably survive for a few weeks without fresh air.
Yeah, I guess I didn’t think apart how quickly the tides would pull him out from the coast. Maybe he’s skilled enough at navigation to find his way back in open ocean? It’s not impossible to swim across seas for experienced swimmers, and I think the bubble would help with exhaustion, though if anything it would make sun burn worse.
The problem with navigating this bubble is that even if your navigation skill is sublime, you still have to sleep. I’m certain that the tides and currents will displace you more than you can make back during the day. You’re basically on a raft without a sail.
No. Once he’s out there, that’s it. There’s no getting back to the coast other than by a miracle.
And… stop wasting money on him and let him do what he wants. FFS…stop protecting people like this.
Love the bit where taxpayers are footing the bill to save him.
No one is “saving” him. The Coast Guard has repeatedly and unilaterally decided to hassle this guy every time he puts to sea over red tape and other trivial shit. The word you’re searching for is actually “harassing.” He did not ask to be rescued and never indicated he was in distress.
He knew they would harass him and he couldn’t find a guy to tail him in a boat?
Until the moment when they find some dead dude in a giant bubble and now the coast guard is liable for his death.
Why would they be? If he wants to wash up dead in a bubble, that’s his business.
Tbf, I have no idea whether coast guard would actually be liable. However, one of the coast guards’ responsibilities is rescue, so I would think if they willingly and intentionally ignored someone in obvious danger (this is very obviously dangerous), they would need to take some responsibility for anything going wrong? And I can’t blame them for not wanting to take the risk?
Even if the man sent a clear “no distress” signal, they have no idea if the man is having a mental crisis, or what other circumstances are. Even if they did know all the background information and know for 100% this dude is not in distress (again, he is in danger…I think we can all agree on that?), would you want to be the guy that made the call not to rescue him, then find out he died because of that?
I say rescue him so he doesn’t die of idiocy, and then fine him for the rescue efforts to deter future behavior?
Let’s fine everyone who goes skydiving, who are to decide what’s safe or not?
Those are all highly regulated and require an absurd amount of training, safety equipment, etc. When people skydive, base jump, etc, the authorities are aware and prepared should anything go wrong.
I think it’s unfair to make a comparison between a random dumbass endangering himself and a highly regulated extreme sport.
Pardon? Anyone can go buy a parachute and go base jumping, the hell you talking about? You seriously think everyone has certification? Or just seems like you have an absolute shit understanding of how things actually work in the real world. Nothing is that perfect lmfao.
There’s also people who have voyaged across the ocean solo in shit like a god damn fucking kayak…. without permission…. so clearly it can be done. So yeah, there’s literally no reason to get up in this guys business.
I’ve jumped from a plane and the outfit I did it with provided about 15 minutes of class time. The instructor rolled in late as they partied hard the night before. I’m just lucky laundry didn’t pour out of my pack during the jump.
would you want to be the guy that
Don’t you think that they have rules and procedures for that?
People who work such jobs simply don’t want to think such thoughts while working.
Suicide is illegal in the USA, this could be interpreted as suicide if they wanted to press charges.
If being reckless and/or very stupid was akin to suicide, a lot of things like base jumping would be illegal.
It’s the fact the guy has tried it 4 times, he keeps trying to do something stupid.
People die at sea all the time, no one is liable for their deaths
Wow the comment section does not reinforce the very little faith I have left in humanity .
Yeah seriously. People saying “just leave him”, like for real? The dude is in obvious danger…he’s a fucking idiot, and maybe should be fined for the rescue effort, but good lord you can’t just leave him in such a high risk situation like that. He doesn’t deserve to die for this like c’mon
We let people skydive, base dive, and tight rope walk without safety gear. People can go caving, who is it to decide what is and isn’t dangerous than someone’s own self?
People need to get their heads out of their asses and let people live their own lives.
Those are all highly regulated and require an absurd amount of training, safety equipment, etc. When people skydive, base jump, etc, the authorities are aware and prepared should anything go wrong.
I think it’s unfair to make a comparison between a random dumbass endangering himself and a highly regulated extreme sport.
Uhh no, I can go buy a parachute and go base dive tomorrow.
Give your head a shake, think a little further than your own nose.
You could try, but authorities will absolutely try to stop you, similar to boat guy here. It’s just that stopping a base diver is a little harder.
That’s because a lot need to trespass to do what they do, or they want to do it for the clout.
Theres legal places to do BASE jump as well, just like you can take a watercraft out to ocean. They are blowing this single one out of proportion for some reason, almost anything you could find something slightly illegal to make a stink about if you really want.
Ahem…literally they don’t get told and people free dive all the time. Stop pushing your crap on others and forcing them to do what society deems is proper.
I think it’s unfair to force someone in the ocean to come back to land when he continues to go out. T The fuk you gonna do to stop them. Leave them
You can walk into a cave right now, no training at all, not even a tiktok tutorial, you can buy anything online with absolutely no training on how to use it and freely use it at your own will.
So If we want to say " hey that dick head is doing something really stupid… Again… Maybe we should just leave him out there, because thats where the dumbass obviously wants to be" thats all cool as well, we’re just untrained dumbasses typing.
HE DIDNT NEED OR WANT TO BE ‘RESCUED’.
Why do people have this weird ass obsession with forcing their views on people, then demanding THEY be charged because YOU think they should be doing something different?
His life, his choice. This is his SECOND time doing this so CLEARLY he knows because those that ‘saved him’ would have already told him the dangers he would have obviously already known to begin with.
He’s done it at least 4 times. Not sure how many as of the date of the article but by now he’s been stopped at least 4 times
Especially a terrible death like that. Stranded at sea is a terrible way to die as you have mo chelter from the sun and dehydrate to death over a couple days. And chances are that there are as many fish around you as birds. The open ocean is essentially a desert with no water to drink, no food to eat, and no shelter from the sun.
Yup no desire to actually learn facts, cnn is reporting very little information that is easy to obtain online without doing real investigative work. Baluchi is a strong athlete, and in 2014 he had to be rescued at his own request by Coast guard. So taxpayer dollars were wasted then. But 2016 there is no indication in the article about who asked for help, was he going on his merry way and coast guard decided to be an ass? Or did he call it quits and didn’t have an escape strategy and use coast guard as such? I don’t know, but people have seemed to form opinions already.
