Reza Baluchi is the inventor of the hydropod, a floating human powered vehicle. He is currently trying to travel 22,000 miles from Taiwan to Florida in his latest hydropod. This transcript is taken from his interview on the Travel Grit podcast.
Reza Baluchi Podast Interview Transcript
The transcript was auto-generated and lightly edited for readability. Listen to the audio to fact check.
Reza Baluchi (00:06)
If your mind is strong you can do anything. No matter anything, anybody stop you, make your voyage, make your mind stronger. Anything is possible if you fight. You must follow your dream. Dream no coming after you.
Bernie Harberts (00:22)
That’s Reza Baluchi, who’s about to try something that’s never been done before, running from Taiwan to Florida across the water in a vessel called a hydropod.
Reza Baluchi (00:34)
My name is Ray Baluchi and Reza is Reza is R-E-Z-A. Baluchi is B-A-L-U-C-H-I. People know me Razor.
Bernie Harberts (00:47)
He’s calling from Taiwan, preparing for his 21,000 mile journey that could take a full year at sea powered by only his two feet.
Bernie Harberts (00:55)
What time is it?
Reza Baluchi (00:58)
The ime in Taiwan is almost 11.
Bernie Harberts (01:04)
This isn’t Reza’s first attempt at an ocean voyage in a hydropod. We’ll get to those in a second. But first, what is a hydropod?
So think of a hydropod as two Ferris wheels, each about 12 feet tall, connected by a central chamber, sort of like a hamster wheel. Now each of these Ferris wheels is filled with boat fenders. Those are the things that keep your boat from crushing against the dock. That’s the flotation. And Rez will be inside the central chamber running to propel the hydropod across the surface of the ocean.
So here’s Reza talking about his hydropod.
Reza Baluchi (01:48)
Hydropod is something with human power. So no use of any fuel, anything. With human power, they can keep going. Running, you know, same thing pedaling, you know, old fashioned boat bigger giant wheel behind, I have exactly same design. I am inside, if I’m running, they move.
Bernie Harberts (02:14)
So it’s like a big paddle wheel that you’re inside running on the water. So how tall is a hydropod?
Reza Baluchi (02:18)
Yes. Is 12 feet tall and together 12 feet wide.
Bernie Harberts (02:34)
So 12 feet tall, 12 feet wide, and how much does it weigh?
Reza Baluchi (02:40)
Oh, no, design is almost 175 kilos on one side, other side is thing, 175 kilos on the other side, and middle is almost together 500 pounds, middle, everything.
Bernie Harberts (03:01)
Okay, it’s roughly 500. Okay, that’s okay. So 500 kilos. I want to really understand how this is set up. It’s like there are two halves. They’re like 12 feet tall. And then there’s a central thing in the middle. And is that where you run? Is there a central compartment?
Reza Baluchi (03:03)
No, kilo, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, 500 kilo. Yes, central, now new design, I put bearing in it. So I design circle if big wave coming, anytime return, they come in same thing, no go cup side.
Bernie Harberts (03:45)
Rez is inside a 12 foot tall cylinder surrounded by inflatable balls that keep him afloat. As he walks inside, the whole thing rolls across the water like a giant hamster wheel. Now, what’s it like to actually live in this thing?
Reza Baluchi (04:01)
Today, actually, I am starting order tent I designed new tent. Can waterproof from pop day tent. You know tent already you open the hole they’re coming up. Sometimes it’s rain, sometimes I want to sleep, no water splash me. I sleep in tent. Now what tent how I sleep I make it one table. The table go inside that you know I can’t put them up if I’m running I can’t put them straight up. I can’t sleep on the middle. So I sleep in table with a mat sleeping. When I put the tent on, it tightened me. If anything happened, I don’t fall on the floor.
Bernie Harberts (04:49)
It’s like a platform that you would have the tent on, and you could strap yourself down if you’re in heavy seas, you don’t get thrown out. Does that sound right?
Reza Baluchi (05:01)
I can’t go to run out, no fall and down. My table is almost three of 10 centimeters. So much is high.
Bernie Harberts (05:16)
So let’s say you’ve spent the night you’re sleeping on this platform. You wake up. What would you have like for breakfast?
Reza Baluchi (05:16)
Yeah, yeah. Breakfast I have, I try to stay inside hydropod 365 days, my goal is. 365 days, I create my energy bar. I have an energy bar. So, for a day I can’t eat them. I can’t eat them one bar, 24 hours. So if I catch fish, I eat them fish, and I have some supply of dry stuff what I need. I have something, you say mango dry, I take it with me. Mango is good for dry. Then I have a Brazilian nut. I have some tuna if I don’t catch any fish. I want to stay on the water, catch rain, eat, drink it. Just see how much I can travel around the world, how much I can stay inside.
Bernie Harberts (06:25)
So how many gallons or liters of water will you leave with?
Reza Baluchi (06:32)
20 gallons, maybe 40. See how much I can put in, maybe 40, 20, 20.
Bernie Harberts (06:38)
Okay, so, the water would be stored like in each of the wheels?
Reza Baluchi (06:45)
Yes, which is a the hydropod.
Bernie Harberts (06:46)
And how much food would you carry?
Reza Baluchi (06:50)
Normal if you go do trip for 360 days you need 20,000 pounds just food you must have, normal. If you have big boat you going, you know, big boat they need a 20,000 pound food, pasta, everything. I can now have 20,000, maybe I have 2,000 pound food for me.
Bernie Harberts (07:18)
So for breakfast you might have a date bar, a little bit of water, and then what comes next? Some fish?
Reza Baluchi (07:24)
Fish. I have a propane, a small camping propane. So I have maybe seven, maybe eight, see how many I can fit in. I can every week cook one time. Then I can catch big fish. I can do fish dry, make beef turkey with fish. Make it nice and dry. I know how to it dry.
Bernie Harberts (07:52)
Sure. So the hydropod works by you’re walking inside it. And so as you’re walking, it rolls, in effect, it’s like a rolling cylinder across the water. So you have your breakfast then what do you do after breakfast? Because if you don’t walk, you don’t go anywhere.
Reza Baluchi (08:02)
Get it. If I catch fish, I want to catch fish. Sometimes I want to take a rest. Sometimes I look in location. If boat is coming to me, I can talk to them. Say I am here, make sure no hit me.
Bernie Harberts (08:37)
How many hours a day would you walk in the hydropod, do you think, to keep it moving?
Reza Baluchi (08:45)
If the 21,000 miles, if sometimes it’s wind, no push me. One problem is I have right now, they say Kuroshio Current. Kuroshio Current is they’re going to north to Alaska. So if I start in December, the current if I go in the current, the current takes me north. What I want to do, I want to go start the dish in December. December have a south wind coming from north going to south.
Bernie Harberts (09:16)
So where would you launch?
Reza Baluchi (09:18)
I cannot say location, surprise. So maybe I started in Japan, maybe Philippines, I started, maybe Taiwan. I don’t know. The three locations, I will see which part I can start.
Bernie Harberts (09:31)
Okay, so the wind will come from the north and the current will be pushing you towards Alaska. Does that sound right?
Reza Baluchi (09:39)
First challenge is if the current is 95 to 100 kilometers wide, north wind is 40 miles, 50 miles per hour, kilometer per hour. The current cannot take me. Wind is stronger than the current. Take me more south.
Bernie Harberts (10:01)
Just to explain to people that may not understand the wind, when you say a north wind, that’s where the wind is coming from. So the wind is blowing from the north, you want to go south, and a little bit of current coming from the south pushing you north, that should cancel that. Does that sound right?
Reza Baluchi (10:20)
Yeah, right.
Bernie Harberts (10:21)
So on a good day, how far do you think you could travel in a hydropod?
Reza Baluchi (10:29)
A good day is mid-core and coming if I two month December I started until February I am in Malaysia. I am in Singapore two month.
Bernie Harberts (10:40)
Two months to get there.
Reza Baluchi (10:41)
Yes.
Bernie Harberts (10:42)
Taiwan to Singapore. That’s about 2,000 miles, which means if Rez is going to make that in two months, he’s going to have to average about 35 miles a day in his hydropod.
Bernie Harberts (10:56)
It gets stormy at sea. Things happen. What does a bad day at sea look like?
Reza Baluchi (11:03)
You know, bad days, if a storm coming, big wave coming, big storm coming, traffic, boat traffic is, I must set up, put my bicycle helmet on, I have something put my face, so water I can breathe in, put my face, no water splash on my mouth, salt water to run up, so everything was set up, everything, so was tied me left, right, and no hit me, you know, and I have a everything control life jacket on my survivor jacket if nighttime cannot sleep if I sleep I sleep very light stay up and sleep you know all the night this is this you you cannot do it change it so one thing is if bad weather you cannot sleep you know you all the time you watch it till weather pass.
Bernie Harberts (11:45)
Yeah, right.
Reza Baluchi (11:54)
I did before, I happened before. I don’t sleep.
Bernie Harberts (11:59)
At night, will there be a navigation light or some kind of a light so boats see you?
Reza Baluchi (12:06)
A light, red light, green light. And I have on the top is other bright light I have. And not just this. I have SOS. They can see me, my name, my boat, they can see on the rudder. They can see everything. I have everything boat have. Maybe some small boat now have technology I have. I have a Starlink. People can watch me live. My camera all the time is on. They can watch me 24 hours.
I’m never give up my dream. Hard for me, I work in two jobs. 100 hours per week, I work in two jobs. 50 hours each job, I work in Los Angeles.
Bernie Harberts (12:44)
So tell me about your jobs.
Reza Baluchi (12:48)
My job being, I am mechanic, engineer. So I can’t go, my job is you must start at 8 o’clock to 5 o’clock. I find some job is comfortable. I work in some restaurant, do maintenance, some painting, room, any bathroom broken, fix a bathroom, table, they sand the table and then put them poly on it, put them, make them wood, everything. And now other job being a night job working catering for airplane. So then they’re making food, repair for airplane. So I work in there nighttime, wash the dishes, do other thing, work them, you know, two job.
Bernie Harberts (13:30)
So tell me about growing up. Where were you born?
Reza Baluchi (13:37)
I was born in North Iran in the Caspian Sea. My father and my mom had a rice farm. So I grew up rice farm. When I was 14, I was an international cyclist.
Bernie Harberts (13:50)
So you bicycled from very young.
Reza Baluchi (13:54)
Yes, yes. I’ve been 55. I did that 55 country around the world bicycle seven years for peace.
Bernie Harberts (14:02)
So wait a minute, so say that again. You spent how many years driving a bicycle through how many countries?
Reza Baluchi (14:10)
55 countries, 7 years.
Bernie Harberts (14:13)
On a bicycle.
Reza Baluchi (14:15)
For almost 50,000 miles.
Bernie Harberts (14:19)
How did you start running?
Reza Baluchi (14:22)
You know, I’ve been poor. I’ve been, no have a taxi, no money for taxi. I run seven mile, go to school seven mile coming home every day.
Bernie Harberts (14:34)
This was in Iran growing up.
Reza Baluchi (14:37)
Take me 12 years, buy one bicycle, 12 dollars.
Bernie Harberts (14:42)
So tell me more about growing up in Iran. How did people treat you in Iran when you were young?
Reza Baluchi (14:50)
You know, I have a problem with government. They’re torturing me. They’re breaking my shoulder. I have so much issue problem. Now I come in for freedom. So I am coming around the world for peace. And I run in United States, three times running across the United States, one time running around the United States. I do it for cost. I run Los Angeles to New York 2009, 2007 running raised money for Children Hospital Denver, 202 days, 11,720 miles. 2003, I run Los Angeles to New York for 9-11 happened. 3,720 miles, I run my trip to ground zero.
Bernie Harberts (15:42)
So how many miles do you think that you have run?
Reza Baluchi (15:47)
Total I have 150,000 miles run.
Bernie Harberts (15:52)
150,000 miles. Reza, that’s five times around the world, if my math is right.
Reza Baluchi (15:59)
Yeah, I run every.
Bernie Harberts (16:02)
So I want to go back to growing up Reza. What was it maybe that angered the Iranian government or people growing up? What do you think it was?
Reza Baluchi (16:15)
So I am in Iran, you know, government all the time is issue problem is for, I am no religion. So I am issue problem. They think I am bad boy. Why I eat in Ramadan? They beat me in Ramadan. That happened, you know.
Bernie Harberts (16:37)
Is this because you did not comply with a Muslim faith? Do you think that’s part of what angered people?
Reza Baluchi (16:46)
I like freedom, you know. Any clothes you wear, long hair, they shave your hair, and they’ll catch me. Police grab you in a party. In parties, friend’s birthday, take your broken shoulder. My shoulder, right side is broke, so they’re pushing me, put me in trunk. When I’m 45, they torture me, they put me 18 months in jail. So what do you think? Now I am inside a bubble, I am freedom.
Bernie Harberts (17:16)
So how did you end up leaving Iran?
Reza Baluchi (17:20)
You know, everything you pay money you can escape. You know, in Iran, you know government, you can’t do anything you want. Money, money, money, escape before they know. I call him a team.
Bernie Harberts (17:30)
And how old were you and what kind of team was this?
Reza Baluchi (17:40)
The international team, bicycle team.
Bernie Harberts (17:43)
So you were on the international Iranian bicycle team when you were young.
Reza Baluchi (17:48)
Yes. Yes.
Bernie Harberts (17:51)
And so you were in Iran and then how did you get out with the team?
Reza Baluchi (17:56)
I was coming for race. You must put them, your house, you put them some co-sign. What happened? I escaped. I don’t co-sign. I get my passport, I escape. My team go back, everybody go back, just me. I escaped. Normally they put them house. Now some people sign a check. If they don’t come and put them his father or mom, or somebody put them in jail, I come back.
Bernie Harberts (18:22)
I just want to understand this. When you’re on the bicycling team as a young man, you were supposed a bond, like sign a, co-sign a house or leave a deposit to make sure you come back. And you just didn’t do that.
Reza Baluchi (18:37)
Yeah, right.
Bernie Harberts (18:38)
What made you decide to go from running to the ocean?
Reza Baluchi (18:45)
No more land left. I want to see how feeling is. I want first man running to run the world with human power. This is my dream.
Bernie Harberts (18:54)
So how many nights do you think you have spent on the ocean?
Reza Baluchi (19:01)
I’ve been one time 45 days stay on, just floating around and then just see how is, how good thing is.
Bernie Harberts (19:12)
Tell us a little bit about that first trip. Tell us about that vessel. Was that a hydropod?
Reza Baluchi (19:20)
Yes, hydropod yes. All the time, their name I set up, how you do part, never changes.
Bernie Harberts (19:25)
How many hydropods have you had?
Reza Baluchi (19:29)
This is my fifth generation.
Bernie Harberts (19:33)
And how many miles do you think you’ve traveled on those total with all five?
Reza Baluchi (19:40)
Total, almost 2000 total. 2000 kilometers.
Bernie Harberts (19:47)
The first trip, where did you leave on the first trip in this hydropod? In your first hydropod?
Reza Baluchi (19:53)
I’m in Newport Beach, California. I did a round trip going to California and coming back under 24 hours. 52 miles is almost 19 hours.
Bernie Harberts (20:06)
Where did you go on that voyage?
Reza Baluchi (20:09)
I go to Catalina Island and come back.
Bernie Harberts (20:12)
You mentioned you’ve had some interactions with the Coast Guard. So tell us about some of those interactions. How many have you had?
Reza Baluchi (20:26)
Four times.
Bernie Harberts (20:27)
So what happened the first time?
Reza Baluchi (20:30)
First time, take me out, me helicopter take me out in Tampa.
Bernie Harberts (20:36)
The first time you’re in a hydropod in the ocean and they took you off the hydropod with a helicopter?
Reza Baluchi (20:39)
Yeah. Yeah, right. Some fishing people. I have a friend, meet some people in the middle of Atlantic Ocean. Some crabbers, they catch crab. They think maybe I am alien. They come close to me and say I am maybe Cuban.
Bernie Harberts (20:58)
Sure. No!
Reza Baluchi (21:08)
He speaks me Spanish. You say, hi. I say, hi. You habla espanol. I say, si. After I ask him, you speak Spanish. He say, no. Why you ask me I speak Spanish? You don’t speak Spanish. I think you’re from Cuba. I am not from Cuba.
Bernie Harberts (21:22)
You don’t speak Spanish, I know. So there’s a crab fishing boat and you’re in the hydropod and you talk with each other. And then what happens next? Why does a coast guard show up?
Reza Baluchi (21:40)
No, after they come in close to me, I cannot hurt them. My hydropod, they give me drink, they give me food. I say, where are you going? I say, I’m going to Bermuda. They say, Bermuda, you need more water. He throw a case in the water, throw inside the my bubble is, I cannot put GPS, tied it on a frame. I put my hat, my GPS tracking device. It’s one thing, one case water, I bump us inside bubble to the light. I fall down, my helmet fall inside the water. What my GPS active, and then coast guard come in first time.
Bernie Harberts (22:27)
So they gave you water, you’re bouncing around the GPS or the tracker’s on your helmet, and then you fall down and it goes in the water and it activates the emergency signal. So the coast guard shows up and, then they…
Reza Baluchi (22:41)
Yes. And then two hours later I see the coast guard coming.
Bernie Harberts (22:46)
Jeez. And they took you off the hydropod?
Reza Baluchi (22:49)
They said, come out. I said, I don’t come out. They said, come out. I said, no. They jumped in the water. And then they released my bubble and said, you go with us. And I had one other big boat next to us. And then they said, leave him alone. He don’t want coming. Leave him alone. He’s okay. And then they say, no, he must come in. And then take me in helicopter, take me in Tampa.
So after this, I like find my hydropod. And then the fishing people like tow my hydropod. And then they break it, bring in bubble, just plastic ball bring it to me. Say, here your bubble. I say, well, it’s free. Free is more expensive. And then after this, after they say, you need a job? I say, yeah. I make them, I working on a boat, 14 years, learn about the ocean, and then create other bubble. I create other bubble. I work there, make a new design, yeah. That happen. They give me job, I first time working.
Bernie Harberts (23:14)
Wow. No!
Bernie Harberts (23:44)
Keep building bubbles. Yeah. So you worked on a, were you working on a fishing boat?
Reza Baluchi (23:56)
14 years.
Bernie Harberts (23:58)
14 years you worked on a fishing boat.
Reza Baluchi (24:01)
Yes. 2014, 2014 to 2020, almost 23.
Bernie Harberts (24:11)
So how much does it cost to build a hydropod?
Reza Baluchi (24:16)
The last one I did my antennae by 10,000, Starlink. I lost Starlink and I lost all of the ball, everything. I lost a lot of stuff, almost 25,000, 30,000.
Bernie Harberts (24:34)
So $30,000 and it was lost. It sank. Wow. So it sounds like the Coast Guard has taken you off the boats or you’ve stopped a couple of these trips. Why do they keep interacting with you?
Reza Baluchi (24:39)
Yes. Hey, first time, first time 2016, they come in, they all the time I go, go. One time they come in, I said, no coming close to me, let me go. I’ve been almost 700 miles going, they follow me. And then they say come in, FBI come in, pick me up, and then they take me to Jacksonville and when the sheriff police come in say I don’t want to take them. He don’t break in law. Why you bring a guy say take him? He don’t break in law. He’s fine. He’s good. He’s good. And then sheriff come in say I blow up his bubble. Let take him take him to the hospital mental hospital. And then he don’t go mad and then say why mental hospital say take him to a couple day until everything calm down. Now sheriff come in say come with me go my buddy friend and I like I like sit behind the police sheriff car. Sheriff say you know came now why you sit behind come sit with me phone he put me a phone phone driver with him so I sit phone with him go and then he take me there and then same day doctor say you okay you go I say no I want to stay tonight here say why I say I’m also I’m curious for my documentary I’m making documentary.
Bernie Harberts (26:24)
Yeah!
Reza Baluchi (26:24)
I want people crazy, how is it? I won’t see it then, what’s going on? So I can say that, I look at everybody, what’s going on? And I ask them, what’s your problem? I ask them, what’s your problem? Some being alcoholic, some being there, I listen to them. And I say everything. The next day, I have a meeting, I say I want to and join the meeting. And I say meeting. Everybody say what your problem is. They ask me what your problem is. I say my problem is bubbles. See what bubbles mean? I say bubbles. They feel confused.
But they laugh so hard. I make them fun jokes. They say, I want to it. I run in a bubble. They think I am cuckoo. You think I am cuckoo? Say no. They don’t need to come in here. You okay? Doctors say they don’t need to come here, kid. Cuckoo, they come here. They have a mental problem. No, you. They said to me. So after this, I left and then go back to work. I run. No have money. They have everything about my stuff. When I run, no money all the way to home. I go bank, I have no card. I ask them bank, I can’t get money. They say, you have social security? I say, yeah. I punch my social security, I get $100 when I run to home.
Bernie Harberts (27:34)
Wow. Wow, but you just keep going. You just keep going. Wow.
Reza Baluchi (27:51)
I never give up. You see, now I am in a different country building my new hydropod now. Before I do 4000, now it’s 21000. Mileage go high.
Bernie Harberts (28:04)
So let’s talk about your route. First of all, why do you not want to tell people where you’re starting?
Reza Baluchi (28:14)
I don’t know, we’ll see what best place for starting. I do broadcast same day I started, maybe Philippine, maybe Japan, I don’t know why I started. Taiwan.
Bernie Harberts (28:26)
And then you will go south and then through down towards I imagine Indonesia. Do you plan to go kind of right by Jakarta? You go down to the South China Sea.
Reza Baluchi (28:39)
Yeah, I go in there. Yes, I go South China Sea and then go try going to Red Sea, Black Sea, go all the way to Great, and then go Turkey, France, Spain, Portugal, back to the United States. I have a map already designed on purpose.
Bernie Harberts (29:02)
I’d love to see it. That’d be very, that’d be fascinating.
Reza Baluchi (29:09)
Yeah, you give me the map.
Bernie Harberts (29:14)
Show me this map. Now, understand if you’re listening to the podcast version of this, you won’t be able to see it, but I do want to describe it to you. It’s about three feet wide, old school, shows the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and Florida, kind of the route of Rez’s voyage, the 21,000 miles. And instead of arrows on the route like you would ordinarily have on most maps, there’s what looks like a little hamster wheel with a Rez inside running across the ocean showing how he’s going to travel the 21,000 miles from Taiwan to Florida.
Bernie Harberts (29:52)
There you go. Just hold it up. Okay, yes, and now I see the route through the Med, and then it looks like you’ll stop in the Canary Islands or Cape Verde.
Reza Baluchi (30:10)
I don’t stop in a place, I just inside inside bubble. I never coming out. If I need a food, my manager bring it over. I have a team. I have a people, 15 people, my team.
Bernie Harberts (30:24)
So you would leave, let’s say you left Taiwan and you’re showing us the goal is to stay on the hydropod the whole time going through the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean, and across the Atlantic Ocean, all the time in the hydropod.
Reza Baluchi (30:41)
Yes.
Bernie Harberts (30:42)
So how hot does it get in the hydropod?
Bernie Harberts (30:47)
So I asked Reza this question because many years ago, I’d seen a photo of one of his hydropods and it was just this big, huge, clear plastic, looked like a beach ball. It looked like something that if you left it out in the tropical sun, it would just absolutely roast you in no time. Kind of like a round floating greenhouse. So this is what Rez said.
Reza Baluchi (31:11)
No more plastic, no more hot. I just get water splash me. Make a nice shower every hour, every minute, every second.
Bernie Harberts (31:19)
Okay, so this will be open. And then how will you deal with like wet feet? Are your feet going to be wet the whole time?
Reza Baluchi (31:31)
No, I have a, I buy clothes, they come in. So I have a boot every time. If sometimes I take a rest, if my feet is wet, you know anything, I take a rest and then just put dry clothes on, put on new socks, everything, relaxing, no run. Just relaxing, enjoying my day fishing.
Bernie Harberts (31:55)
Sounds lovely. Are you going to watch? Do you have a laptop or do you watch? Can you watch some movies?
Reza Baluchi (32:02)
I have so much things. I have an ET, can talk to my ET. I have a imagination girlfriend.
Bernie Harberts (32:11)
What’s her name?
Reza Baluchi (32:14)
E.T. E.T. You see the movie E.T. movie? Yeah.
Bernie Harberts (32:17)
E.T. Yes, I love that Reza, a girlfriend named ET. So tell me how, because it must get lonely. How will you deal with loneliness?
Reza Baluchi (32:22)
Yes, Sam. Yes. Listen, I’ve been 18 months in jail. There’s nothing for me. Torture me. I am more freedom. I have a lot of people join me talking. I bring them people talk to me in WhatsApp. People come in and join me, run, talking. And I have an actor, Nicky Zering. She talks to me every day, one hour.
Bernie Harberts (33:01)
So do you ever think back when you’re on the ocean of growing up in Iran? Do you think of people still in prison there?
Reza Baluchi (33:12)
This is my mission, my message. My message is so much people in the jail, they cannot call me out. I want to try to bring peace. Each wave can move, bring a connect to other wave around the world, bring peace. I like try to do love, one love, one mission, one dream.
Bernie Harberts (33:33)
Yeah, that’s beautiful. What do you think the biggest challenge will be on this upcoming trip?
Reza Baluchi (33:48)
Challenges make me happy. My hope is show people if you have a dream, follow your dream no matter what happens.
Bernie Harberts (34:00)
What would you say to people that say, well, it’s fine to follow your dream, but if you go out on the ocean and we have to watch you die because you get in trouble, some people could say that’s horrible. And other people would say, let a person do that. They’re following their dream. What would you say?
Reza Baluchi (34:25)
You know, one thing is you drive a car, the accident happened. You no matter what time your time come in, no matter you sleep. People are sleeping in the house. Their car driving going house kill them. In the house they’re sleeping. They happen to happen, you know. One thing is if you know how to follow your dream, dream, so much thing happening. If no technology come in, people fly in airplane, think their government shut up their airplane. They say you can’t do it. Now everybody use their airplane.
Everybody use it. Airplane crash, they stay, go buy ticket. So one thing is I want to the people for human power, human can do so much, you don’t believe it. I want to show that your mind is strong, can do anything you have. Can do it. You your mind is 85, 90 percent your mind is, you know. I know I can do it, you know. I can see future. I can see far away. Some people think I am crazy. This is okay. I want to help them. They think I am crazy. I want to help them. Maybe he has dream. He cannot follow his dream.
Bernie Harberts (35:39)
So what would you tell people who say it’s crazy. What would you tell them?
Reza Baluchi (35:48)
I say, thank you so much. I see you other side. It’s simple. I’ve been travel around the world in Africa, South Africa. I’ve been some guy stop four o’clock. I’m biking. Stop hit my face. I hit my face very bad. It’s been black, tall guy, seven foot. Hit my face, I said thank you. I said thank you, my eyes cry, almost coming down. I keep going. Six hour later, I see same guy. Say, what did you do now? And then a guy asked me, what country you? I say Iran. Why I hit you? You say thank you.
I say, sometimes you go in the street, some strange dog bite your feet. You bite dog feet and say no. I say, okay, I don’t know. Maybe you have a problem with your wife, with your kid. Maybe I make something. I sleep here, I make a round. I don’t think of what I can say. I fight with you? No, I just let go, you know. And then he hug me, he take me in the house. I say, I don’t want come to your house, no. I’m good, I’m fine. He won’t take me in the house. Anyway, he take me and then bringing me back, bringing me back, and then put same position I’ve been, you know. I sleep in my tent, it’s a yard, comfortable.
Bernie Harberts (37:14)
Wow.
Reza Baluchi (37:15)
This happens, you know, sometimes. People, they have a childhood abuse and something, somebody mean to him, he don’t know about so much love. And then what happened? They say, he’s this, this. Just forgiving them. I want to show them everything possible if you follow the road, you know. My goal is, my mission is I want to teach people, I want to show people.
Bernie Harberts (37:42)
Yeah.
Reza Baluchi (37:47)
You’re mind is strong, you have a dream, you fall, you dream, no matter how many times you fall. Anytime Coast Guard is stopping me, I love Coast Guard. I say, my mission go bigger. Say why? I get more stronger, you know. I live in my legacy. This is my mission. This is my message.
Bernie Harberts (38:06)
A few more questions on the hydropod. Can a hydropod sink?
Reza Baluchi (38:13)
Never sink, no. Impossible.
Bernie Harberts (38:16)
Do you carry a life raft?
Reza Baluchi (38:18)
No. I have a, my buoyancy ball is 24. If they broke, anything happen, I can float and make them raft. With the ball, I can make them raft. I can sleep on the raft. I designed some way, a broad, it cannot go separate.
Bernie Harberts (38:35)
Okay, and what happens, so as I understand the hydropod rolls along kind of on the water like a cylinder. But if you get a storm and it flips it up on its side, how would you get it back so it could go back to rolling?
Reza Baluchi (38:56)
They cannot stay on the side. I designed some ways they cannot stay. Go back, back, same way.
Bernie Harberts (39:03)
Go back to lying down like a rolling pin. And then if, let’s say you’re coming up on Indonesia and you need to steer to the north of Jakarta so you can go through the passage there. How do you steer the hydropod?
Reza Baluchi (39:04)
Yeah, yeah, they can’t be rolling. Thank you. Oh, new design. I have a wheel, a small wheel with bicycle. So what happened, I put a wheel, I have one small hole. I put them inside. And then I’m rolling the small pedal. I can’t go left, right, pushing left, right, yeah. And now I have one more thing I have a kite sail, it will come in, go left, can’t use it, thrown out, sail and me go left, you’re right, control my hydropod.
Bernie Harberts (39:51)
So explain what a kite sail looks like and what it does.
Reza Baluchi (39:57)
People have a kite, surf kite. Same thing I have. I use it, what’s that, 18 meter kite. You can’t control me being go left, right. When I tied, my body tied under the frame. I cannot go out. What I do, I control. Go left, you’re right, you know?
Bernie Harberts (40:21)
So what you would do is if you needed to steer the hydropod, you would tie yourself to the hydropod, you would launch the kite, and then you could steer the kite, and it would steer the, pull the hydropod in the direction you wanted to go.
Reza Baluchi (40:38)
Right, right.
Bernie Harberts (40:39)
And if you didn’t want to go somewhere, let’s say there was a storm and you were drifting up on an example, Indonesia, the North Coast of Indonesia, how would you keep the hydropod from slamming into the land?
Reza Baluchi (40:57)
I want to see which way is wind going. If wind going to, wind coming, current, the tide going to land, wind coming to south, you go east, you’re west, I have a small flag. I can see flag which way wind go, and then I figure out how can control. And then my GPS show me, when people watch me too online, people see my GPS tracking the white government I have, people can see exactly how far I am to do. And now I can see how far I am to land too. So now I have a monitor, waterproof case, same thing with the boat. I can see what boat is close to me, what country close to me.
Bernie Harberts (41:40)
Right, right. And then if you had to stop the boat, can you anchor in a hydropod?
Reza Baluchi (41:47)
I have. No, I have a sea anchor.
Bernie Harberts (41:53)
So explain what that is.
Reza Baluchi (41:53)
Sea anchor. Sea anchor is, they have two ropes. One is small feather. What you do, you throw on them, and one big giant sea anchor thrown in water. Water go inside, then you tie your hydropod, and then the current go south, they give you slow down. Slow down, you don’t go to north, you don’t go south. On and make it slow down. Your bubble no go left, your bubble no go right. Control your bubble.
Bernie Harberts (42:28)
So this is like a big device of, is it fabric? Is it like made out of canvas or cloth or metal?
Reza Baluchi (42:37)
No, no, there is a three meter plastic, you know, the plastic I make it. When I’m one rope, you pick him up, you cannot bring enough, too heavy. You must take the other side rope and the upside down coming up. If they’re empty, they’re coming up. You can take them in.
Bernie Harberts (42:57)
Okay. So it’s like a flexible plastic basket. If you pull it through the water, it slows you down, but to pick it up, you’d have to pick it up from the back end because it’s so heavy. And that would, but that would help you slow down. Right. That’s two ropes, one to tie it to the hydropod and one to pull it out of the water.
Reza Baluchi (43:05)
Yes. Yeah, you must other way. They have a control. Yeah. Yeah. Yes.
Bernie Harberts (43:22)
And where would you hope to end your voyage?
Reza Baluchi (43:28)
Maybe Florida, maybe New York. I don’t know exactly.
Bernie Harberts (43:32)
What do you still need to do on the hydropod to get it ready to launch?
Reza Baluchi (43:37)
They said they won’t give me Christmas, my hydropod, for Christmas gift. Right now I am organized. All the battery, I like buy battery. How I can connect to Starlink. Now how I can connect to camera. Yesterday I go find one team, person can design, coming set up camera box, how it can touch, five cameras come together, you can touch, you can put the automatic, every camera show up, and one top, one side, one everywhere.
Bernie Harberts (44:19)
On this hydropod how do you go to the bathroom?
Reza Baluchi (44:24)
Bathroom is ocean. Same thing fishermen do. People in fishing boat, they have a bucket. I don’t have a bucket. Put your ass, outside. Say hello. Finish. Be careful, be careful shark don’t bite you.
Bernie Harberts (44:41)
So people are building this hydropod for you for a Christmas gift. Is it in a warehouse? Are you working on it? Have you seen it? Are you working on it every day?
Reza Baluchi (44:51)
I see it first time. First time I see it Monday. This Monday passed. First time I see it.
Bernie Harberts (44:59)
What did you think?
Reza Baluchi (45:01)
Taiwanese people is very, very kind, so hospitality. I think God give to me these people, so kind, one is kind on the earth. These people are so humble, so nice, design everything they think and how can make them safety and design stronger. So they design the first 3D. I have a 3D how they design for me. Yeah, I have a 3D. Yeah, I show you.
Bernie Harberts (45:28)
I’d love to see a copy. I’d love to see a copy.
Bernie Harberts (45:34)
Okay, if you’re listening to the podcast, thanks for your patience. At this point, Reza pulls out a 3D printed model of his new hydropod. And it’s beautiful. It fits into his hands. So it’s about the size of two palms put together. And again, it looks like two little Ferris wheels, one on each side joined by on the scale model, a central chamber about the size of a can of beans. So, can of beans sandwiched between two small Ferris wheels. And as you’re going to hear, he’s going to point out some of the details of how this thing actually works, how it comes together. He’s going to talk about these inflatable balls that are fenders that fit into the Ferris wheel, the outside wheels on this hydropod.
I just want you to listen to Reza describe this because the enthusiasm is beautiful, even if technically it’s a little hard to understand.
Reza Baluchi (46:37)
Design the 3D, this is how my bubble is. So, and then they’re making ball. They decide my ball too, how this ball go inside. So on the…
Bernie Harberts (46:51)
Wow. Hold it up to the camera, Reza. Hold the model up. Wow.
Reza Baluchi (46:59)
You see the you see it, they go inside how the ball is inside. There are four ball all the time stay in the water one two three four stay in the water so each ball have a each ball have a 700 pounds 700 pounds 700 pounds 700 pounds. You can put two car on the top. You can not go sink. Yeah.
Bernie Harberts (47:23)
Right. And then you and hold it up again to the camera Reza.
Bernie Harberts (47:26)
So when I ask Reza where he’s gonna be walking, he holds up the model. Again, think of two Ferris wheels sandwiched on either side of a bean can. He points to the bean can and says, I’m gonna be walking inside this.
Reza Baluchi (47:41)
I am inside here. They have one door. The door here, I go inside. Same way I go bathroom.
Bernie Harberts (47:51)
And then the platform for the tent is inside that. It folds down.
Reza Baluchi (47:58)
Yeah, right.
Bernie Harberts (48:01)
Okay, I’ve got to jump in one more time here. And again, thank you for your patience. If you’re listening to this on the podcast, one of the things I absolutely love about Reza is he is constantly reinventing not only himself, but his hydropod. So when I started explaining how this whole thing worked, I keep talking about the two Ferris wheels kind of on either side of a bean can that’s rolling across the water like a hamster wheel.
Well it turns out in this newest version of Reza’s hydropod, that’s not actually the way it works. So as Reza explains, the Ferris wheel parts on the outside, they don’t move. It’s the only the inside part, again, the bean can sandwiched between the two Ferris wheel sides. It’s only this inner part, this inner cylinder that turns as he walks. Thanks for the patience. Just wanted to clarify that. Back to Reza.
Bernie Harberts (49:08)
Right. And is the whole outside of the wheel filled with balls or is it just three balls or four balls and then you move them? Is the whole thing covered in balls?
Reza Baluchi (49:22)
Oh yes, yes. I have 12 this side, 12 other side. If I get flat tire, flat, I can twist the other four, it down.
Bernie Harberts (49:27)
Right. I like that Reza flat tire on the ocean. That’s great. Well, that’s wonderful. I love it.
Reza Baluchi (49:37)
Yeah.
Bernie Harberts (49:42)
I love it. Well Reza, I know it’s very late. It’s almost midnight your time. I thank you so much.
Reza Baluchi (49:51)
I want to share my message, share my dream. If you have a dream, follow your dream, never give up your dream. I want show people if your mind is strong you can do anything. No matter anything, anybody stop you, make your voyage, make your mind stronger. Some people they lost their mother, father, some people lost something. They’re depressed. They think everything is over. You can’t start over. Anything is possible if you fight. You must follow your dream. Dream coming, no coming after you.
Bernie Harberts (50:30)
Thanks Reza for staying up well past midnight to tell me about your upcoming voyage in your hydropod. You can follow Reza’s upcoming journey at runwithreza.tv. Thanks for joining me here on TravelGrit. Until next time, stay gritty.
END
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