Strong current stops Cuba-to-US swim
Source: Agencies |
July 2, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MARATHON swimmer Penny Palfrey failed yesterday in her attempt to complete a record breaking 166-kilometer swim from Cuba to the US without a shark cage.
Palfrey, a 49-year-old grandmother, was plucked from the waters of the Florida Straits at about midnight after setting out from Havana on Friday and swimming for more than 40 hours, Andrea Woodburn, a member of Palfrey's logistical support crew said in an e-mail.
The e-mail said Palfrey had to be pulled out of the sea "due to a strong southeast current that made it impossible for her to continue her swim."
Woodburn said Palfrey had gone about 140km across the dangerous body of water that separates communist Cuba from the US, which meant she had already broken the world record she set in June last year for what is referred to as "unassisted open ocean swims."
In that feat, which failed to garner much worldwide attention, Palfrey swam 109km without a shark cage off the Cayman Islands, Cuba's neighbor in the Caribbean Sea.
Palfrey, who was born in Britain but lives in Australia, had initially hoped to complete the crossing from Cuba and arrive somewhere in southern Florida within 40 to 50 hours.
Palfrey, a 49-year-old grandmother, was plucked from the waters of the Florida Straits at about midnight after setting out from Havana on Friday and swimming for more than 40 hours, Andrea Woodburn, a member of Palfrey's logistical support crew said in an e-mail.
The e-mail said Palfrey had to be pulled out of the sea "due to a strong southeast current that made it impossible for her to continue her swim."
Woodburn said Palfrey had gone about 140km across the dangerous body of water that separates communist Cuba from the US, which meant she had already broken the world record she set in June last year for what is referred to as "unassisted open ocean swims."
In that feat, which failed to garner much worldwide attention, Palfrey swam 109km without a shark cage off the Cayman Islands, Cuba's neighbor in the Caribbean Sea.
Palfrey, who was born in Britain but lives in Australia, had initially hoped to complete the crossing from Cuba and arrive somewhere in southern Florida within 40 to 50 hours.
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