Russell Crowe gets lost kayaking & he’s currently filming “Noah” (as in the Ark)

Russell Crowe went kayaking this weekend and had to be rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard when he veered more than 10 miles off course in the Atlantic. Naturally, everyone is giving Russell a hard time because a.) He’s filming a movie about Noah and his ark and b.) He’s Russell “Gladiator” Crowe.

Russell took to Twitter to try and protect his manly reputation: “not lost, we knew exactly where we were, paddling around from csh into wind, we ran out of day. Grand adventure eh @chris_feather?”

Chris Feather, who is Russell’s Auzzie buddy/personal trainer he was saved with, tweeted this: “If anyone is trying to get hold of me and cant, just e mail me on chris@rileystgym.com. I have no phone, its full of salt water……”

Russell seems to have paid off the Coast Guard or something, because Officer Swiecki had this say about his Noah’s Ark Recovery Mission: “He (Russell) just needed a little bit of help, he just got a little lost. It wasn’t really a rescue, really, more of just giving someone a lift.”

Noah/The Gladiator sent a tweet at 1:30 a.m. Sunday thanking the officers for saving them (and probably for also keeping their traps shut about him crying like a baby): “Thanks to Seth and the boys from the US Coast Guard for guiding the way…4 hrs 30 mins, 7m(11.2km).”

In Russell’s defense, he didn’t freak out so bad as to shoot an S.O.S. flare off the back of his plastic kayak boat. No, what happened was, he and his pal/PT launched out of the Cold Spring Harbor Saturday afternoon on the Long Island Sound and after experiencing the intense winds, it got dark so the two men headed for shore; beaching their kayaks in Huntington Bay—nearly 10 miles east from where they had set out.

The U.S. Coast Guard just happened to be patrolling the area, when Russell called out to them. The officers didn’t even realize it was Russell Crowe when they pulled him in, which is probably because he’s unrecognizable in his crotchety-old-sailor-disguise.

Basically—Russell WAS lost—he just couldn’t admit or bring himself to call for help…he just sat there until someone strolled by. So…Mr. Manly-Man Russell “Gladiator” Crowe proves he’s just your average 48-year-old-man…who can’t ask for directions.

Side note: Someone named ‘Steve Belanger’ fired off a funny tweet “?@russellcrowe hogged all the Long Island press this weekend…I was lost in the Walmart on Rt. 110 for 20 minutes and nobody gave two shits.”