Photo courtesy of Rob Webb.
Though determined, Reza Baluchi failed to account for one thing in his attempt to run in his hydro-bubble from Long Beach to Catalina: the sheer power of the ocean.
Eight miles into the trip, which began Saturday at 8AM, the afternoon winds picked up—something Rob Webb, the local ocean guru who was overseeing Reza’s endeavor, had previously predicted—and significantly slowed down Reza. This would have put Reza and crew arriving at Catalina at 3AM, far from the 6PM to 8PM window they were hoping to achieve.
“I gotta say the guy impresses me,” Webb said. “But he just didn’t understand the ocean. And despite how much you try to explain the power of water, it is simply something that someone has to experience it… And boy, does he have a healthy respect for the ocean now.”
With three to four foot swells and a wind at 15 knots—which Webb noted was “nothin'” on the scale of true gale forces—Reza was actually experiencing what most would consider beautiful weather on the water. But even that slight upward wind proved to be exhausting to compete against, with Reza even vomiting due to the lack of steadiness and the amount of heat that built up inside the bubble.
“The ground is a constant,” Webb said, “and Reza didn’t realize this: the ground doesn’t move. Sure, you have rain and wind but the ground stays constant. On top of this, he wasn’t properly rested.”
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Keeping with his promise that he would help Reza achieve his goal, Webb now gets to do what he had suggested from the get-go: go from Catalina to Long Beach, going with the current and swells, followed with a downward wind. They are currently in talks to have the running contraption, what Reza calls his Hydro Pod Bubble Runner, shipped to Catalina in the hopes that within the next few weeks, he can try once again to run on the ocean.
“First we did it his way, now we’re gonna do it my way,” Webb said. “He isn’t going to be up into odd hours in the morning the night before. He’s going to stay there a few days, catch his breath, get acclimated, and be fully charged. This guy has a message, y’know? He runs for peace—and that’s something I don’t want him to give up on. I told him I’ll get him there and I don’t plan on backing out. So we’re gonna try again. And we’ll get there.”
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