Man rescued from floating bubble (tries to go across ocean to Bermuda 1000 miles)

Discussion in 'All Things Boats & Boating' started by Waterwitch, Oct 5, 2014.

  1. Waterwitch
    Joined: Oct 2012
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    Waterwitch Senior Member

    I am sure I am not alone in scanning this forum daily for the next harebrained scheme of a design which tends to turn into an epic thread for it's entertainment value.
    Got to wonder how many bottles of water and protein bars he managed to stow inside his giant hamster wheel to make it 4 days and 70 miles off shore on his way to Bermuda from Florida.

    http://www.uscgnews.com/go/doc/4007/2371574/
     
  2. Ike
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    Ike Senior Member

  3. Rurudyne
    Joined: Mar 2014
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    Rurudyne Senior Member

    Hey now, here's something for the doomsday bugout boat thread....
     
  4. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    sdowney717 Senior Member

    Man in plastic inflated bubble tries to go across ocean to Bermuda 1000 miles

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29501005

    So funny this guy thinks he can walk to Bermuda in inflated bubble.
    But the trip wore him out and he was totally disoriented, asking USCG which way to go to Bermuda.

    Maybe something like this could be a life raft? where you could walk to shore.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 6, 2014
  5. Manie B
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    Location: Cape Town South Africa

    Manie B Senior Member

    Good grief at first I thought this was an april fools joke or something like that
    the guys is nuts :D

    makes the rest of us look normal ?!?!
    whatever :p
     
  6. JSL
    Joined: Nov 2012
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    JSL Senior Member

    I hope he is registered for the 2014 Darwin Award. He would certainly be in the running.... if not the winner.
     
  7. bregalad
    Joined: Dec 2010
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    bregalad Senior Member

    No Darwin Award for him. Because of the Coast Guard's intervention he didn't remove himself from the gene pool.

    In fairness to him... Once in the Gulf Stream the currents and winds might well have taken him, or his remains, to Ireland..... and Darwin Award recognition.
     
  8. Rurudyne
    Joined: Mar 2014
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    Rurudyne Senior Member

    He survived, so his Darwin Award disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.
     
  9. JosephT
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    JosephT Senior Member

    All it would take is a stiff wind to blow that inflatable bubble like a tumbleweed across the desert.



    His cause was noble (world peace), but his mode of transport was just not thought out too well.
     
  10. Ike
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    Ike Senior Member

    Send him the bill!
     
  11. JosephT
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    JosephT Senior Member

    More on this guy...

     
  12. philSweet
    Joined: May 2008
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    Location: Beaufort, SC and H'ville, NC

    philSweet Senior Member

    Who knew a device so simple could be that inefficient? By the way, a ball on the water doesn't tumble. It just coasts along. Something to do with the way surface tension is nonlinear. Water resists peeling away from a departing object much more than it is attracted to an oncoming object. Very draggy and it stops a ball from rolling on the surface. He apparently didn't realize he was going to be walking up hill for a thousand miles.
     
  13. Mr Efficiency
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    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

    Bloke had an inflated idea of his capabilities.
     
  14. Petros
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    Petros Senior Member

    did he even plan his distance made good for each day? it does not seem possible to get enough food and water into something like that for 1000 mile journey, even if he could push it 1000 miles. Say he can make 20 miles a day (which is optimistic I think), that would be about 50 days (992 miles), over 200 lbs of food and 259 lbs of water perhaps. likely much more provisions would be necessary, 20 miles a day in that thing would be a major effort for just a day or two, let alone for two months.

    the guy has done similar stunts, but nothing this large. you would think he would have a better understanding of how long it takes. It says he crossed from Newport to Catalina island in California in such a device, that is only about 26 miles. this would have been 40 times further. It is not like he does not have some basis, but some how he appears to have completely miscalculated on this journy.
     

  15. Manie B
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    Manie B Senior Member

    The guy is an idiot that knows that he will be rescued, that's the real problem.
    Only in America will they throw such huge resources at an idiot. In Africa those resources don't even exist so he would have died in a very short time in the middle of nowhere. Here the locals would have waved him goodbye and then started to drink their corn beer. Life changes when you KNOW there is no safety net and you HAVE to take responsibility for your actions or die.
     
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