The Penny Palfrey Project Cuba2012 – Proudly Supported by;

Is your company’s logo here? It’s not too late to be a part of Penny’s Cuba2012 swim. Own a part of this great event and sponsor Penny K4K, check out which numbers are still available below and choose the K’s you’d like to sponsor!

Penny Palfrey’s swim from Cuba to Florida is approximately 166 kilometres in distance and the approximate cost of holding this world record swim is $166,000 please show your support and sponsor Penny $1,000 for 1000m that’s 1K 4 1K. Please follow the link for more information and to learn how your business can be part of the action! http://www.palfreymarathonswims.com/cuba2012/k4k-support-penny-k4k-and-splash-your-logo-around/

Kilometre Company Name / Sponsors Name
1 Naming rights sponsor first and last 10k + another 10k during the swim
2
3 Place your company’s name here, see information box below this chart
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 Naming rights sponsor first and last 10k + another 10k during the swim
11 Jupiters Hotel Townsville www.jupiterstownsville.com.au
12 Jupiters Hotel Townsville
13 Jupiters Hotel Townsville
14 Jupiters Hotel Townsville
15 Jupiters Hotel Townsville
16 Jupiters Hotel Townsville
17 Jupiters Hotel Townsville
18 Jupiters Hotel Townsville
19 Jupiters Hotel Townsville
20 Jupiters Hotel Townsville
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31 Cayman Islands & The Flowers Sea swim http://www.flowersseaswim.com
32 Cayman Islands & The Flowers Sea swim
33 Cayman Islands & The Flowers Sea swim
34 Cayman Islands & The Flowers Sea swim
35 Cayman Islands & The Flowers Sea swim
36 Cayman Islands & The Flowers Sea swim
37 Cayman Islands & The Flowers Sea swim
38 Cayman Islands & The Flowers Sea swim
39 Cayman Islands & The Flowers Sea swim
40 Cayman Islands & The Flowers Sea swim
41 Place your company’s name here
42
43
44
45
46 Wilson/Ryan/Grose Lawyers http://www.wrg.com.au/
47 Wilson/Ryan/Grose Lawyers
48 Wilson/Ryan/Grose Lawyers
49 Wilson/Ryan/Grose Lawyers
50 Wilson/Ryan/Grose Lawyers
51 Wilson/Ryan/Grose Lawyers
52 Wilson/Ryan/Grose Lawyers
53 Wilson/Ryan/Grose Lawyers
54 Wilson/Ryan/Grose Lawyers
55 Wilson/Ryan/Grose Lawyers
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63 Jessups Accountants and Business Advisers http://www.jessupsnq.com.au/
64 Jessups Accountants and Business Advisers
65 Jessups Accountants and Business Advisers
66
67
68
69
70
71
72 Shark Shield http://sharkshield.com
73 Shark Shield
74
75
76
77
78 The Townsville Bulletin http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/
79 The Townsville Bulletin
80 The Townsville Bulletin
81
82
83 Half Way!!!!
84
85
86 “Inner & Outer Journeys of a lifetime.” www.insightadventures.com
87 “Inner & Outer Journeys of a lifetime.”
88 “Inner & Outer Journeys of a lifetime.”
89
90
91
92 SportsMed NQ
93 SportsMed NQ http://www.sportsmed.net.au
94 SportsMed NQ
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108 Mike Carney Toyota
109 Mike Carney Toyota http://www.mikecarneytoyota.com.au/
110 Mike Carney Toyota
111 Mike Carney Toyota
112 Mike Carney Toyota
113 Snooze Townsville
114 Snooze Townsville http://www.snooze.com.au
115 Snooze Townsville http://www.snooze.com.au
116 Snooze Townsville
117 Snooze Townsville
118
119
120
121 Sposta Inc. (Online Marketing) http://www.sposta.com
122 Sposta Inc. (Online Marketing)
123 Sposta Inc. (Online Marketing)
124 Boyle Software www.boylesoftware.com
125 Boyle Software
126 Boyle Software
127
128
129
130 Place your company’s name here
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157 Naming rights sponsor first and last 10k + another 10k during the swim
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165 Naming rights sponsor first and last 10k + another 10k during the swim
166 Place your company’s name here, see information box below this chart

Thank you for your support!

When searching for flights for my trip in May I learned that the only airline which flies directly between Townsville and Coolangatta no longer does. My alternate option would take 6-9 hours of travel instead of the usual two. The following morning while swimming my four hour program and when I do all my best thinking, it occurred to me that perhaps the airline only did this run during the summer months. Unfortunately I learned that no, the schedule had been cancelled permanently ….as of the end of April. Wow it was April 23rd! With flights only available every few days this gave me one opportunity to fly directly this month, in 48 hours! After a quick call to my family and another to Chris at work to check it was ok at such short notice I booked my flight down for Wednesday evening.

I didn’t feel too guilty about my training because I’d just completed 100k’s in 4 days. I took Sunday off then swam another 15k each day for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday giving me a total of 145k’s in eight days. With that I was on the plane excited about seeing my son, daughter-in-law, her family and my grandchildren! I was only on the Gold Coast from Wednesday to Saturday; I enjoyed a lovely swim in the surf on Thursday morning and a couple of wonderful days with my family. I was back home and training on Sunday morning.

Sometimes things don’t work out exactly as expected and you need to roll with it just as we do the ocean swells.
~Penny

In my last blog Chris and I were on our way from Mount Gambier to Port Fairy then planned to travel along the Great Ocean Road to spend a few days with Chris’ mother in Melbourne.

Shortly after leaving Port Fairy we stopped at Warrnambool for a morning swim. Wow what a place to ocean swim! Long clean beaches with beautiful cool, clear water and a nice rolling swell.

From Warrnambool we hit the Great Ocean Road headed for Melbourne. This is a wonderful drive, and a must do if you’re ever in this part of the world. We were extremely lucky with the weather and had a great day stopping at many, many places to admire the beautiful scenery. Our second swim for the day was at Loch Ard Gorge (see video below) the word spectacular doesn’t even come close to describing the experience of swimming in this beautiful gorge.

We had planned on making it to Melbourne that day; however we’d made so many stops it was late afternoon as we entered the seaside town of Lorne and still had several hours of driving ahead of us. Chris and I made the decision to check into a beachside hotel overnight and travel on to Melbourne the following day. That evening we enjoyed a lovely meal at a nearby restaurant on the beach and a refreshing swim at Lorne the following morning. Lorne is well known amongst open water swimmers for its annual Pier to Pub swim.

The following day we arrived in Melbourne around midday and spent the next few days with Chris’ mum where we enjoyed several different activities including a trip to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) to watch a game of AFL football (Australian Football League). Though swimming was not off the menu and we swam with Albert Bardoel and the Black Ice swim club on Saturday morning and at the famous Brighton Beach Baths on Sunday.

On Tuesday it was time to fly home. While I was happy with the cold water swimming I’d been doing while we’d been away and the lesser miles made for a good recovery week after the many months of high millage training, I knew I had some intense weeks of swimming ahead before beginning my taper for Cuba2012 Cuba – Florida swim in June.

I hadn’t really planned what lay ahead of me over the next four days of training; it was simply a challenge that presented itself.
Wednesday Chris and I woke at our usual time of 4am and headed out for our training workout at the beach. Knowing I needed to put in some good distance swimming I extended my 15k workout to 25k’s, later that day I felt a little tired but ok and decided it would be cool to try back to back 25k’s.

The next morning I prepared better with a good coating of sun block and an extra water bottle then headed for the beach. Yep another 25k’s no worries! Later that afternoon my head was really working…I wonder if I could do 100k’s in 4 days? I didn’t want to commit just yet but thought I’d try for a third 25k on Friday, sure enough I got it done and later that day felt a little tired and as if I’d had a little too much sun, but was still feeling ok.

Saturday morning, again more sun block, an extra water bottle and an open mind, I’d just do what I felt like…but in the back of my mind I knew I wouldn’t get out until I’d reached my goal…100k’s in 4 days!

This was a first for me, I’d never done back to back 25ks before and now I’d done 4 in a row! I was very pleased with myself and later that day felt just the same as the previous three, a little tired and as if I’d had a little too much sun!

Please enjoy this little video I made at Loch Ard Gorge and Lorne Beach

Swim, swim, swim,

~Penny~

Our plans for Easter had changed somewhat. Chris and I were very much looking forward to returning to Hawaii to take part in a group channel swim with some USA swimming friends and to catch up with our dear friends Jeff Kozlovich and Capt. Don. Unfortunately due to the expense of my Cuba2012, Cuba – Florida swim it became necessary to make some amendments to our plans. Chris and I decided to travel to South Australia and Victoria to swim in cold water in preparation for my North Channel swim scheduled for later this year instead.

Our plans are to fly from Townsville to Adelaide, South Australia, take five days driving to Melbourne where we’ll spend another five days visiting Chris’ mother before flying back to Townsville ex Melbourne, Victoria.

To date we’ve enjoyed two days in Adelaide, two days in Mount Gambier and today made our way from Mount Gambier, South Australia to Port Fairy in Victoria. Our trip so far has been fun and a wonderful reminder of how beautiful Australia is. We’ve also noticed how much easier it is to travel in one’s own country without the currency and language differences.

Our stay in Adelaide was great; we stayed at the seaside town of Glenelg and swam there and at Henley Beach, we also took the tram into Adelaide on Easter Monday and spent the day in the city mall and enjoyed a good look around the botanic gardens.

The most outstanding thing about our stay in Adelaide is that I’d googled open water swimming groups in the area and learned that a group of o/w swimmers swim between two jetties at Henley Beach. Chris and I decided to go for a drive and check it out. We stood around for a while, then Chris returned to the car to get his swim gear, I noticed a guy with a bathing suit, cap, goggles…Great! A swimmer! He was about to start swimming, I ran down the beach waving like a looney, he was kind enough to stop and talk to me even though he was obviously cold. He told me his fellow swimmers had walked to the other end of the beach and would be swimming back. I introduced myself and asked if he minded if Chris and I swim with him. “Sure no problem” he said and Chris, our new friend Dr Greg Rowsell and I set off along the shoreline. When we stopped Greg asked if I’d done much swimming, I told him I do a lot of open water swimming, he asked about pool swimming …well a long story short, Greg and I used to swim at the same pool in Southend, England when we were teenagers, together with coach Mr Mick Higgs! Wow what a coincidence! After the swim we went for coffee and a chat then planned another swim for the following day when we met Greg’s wife Erica and their two boys. It was so great to catch up and talk about our old swimming friends as teenagers. Strangely we will both be in Melbourne next weekend when Chris and I are visiting his mum, Greg and Erica will be there on business. Hopefully we will catch up again.

Here’s a little video I made of Chris and my swim in Little Blue Lake, Mount Gambier, South Australia.

‘Cuba2012’ Check it out! http://www.palfreymarathonswims.com/cuba2012/

This weeks new video is of me training in my home town of Townsville for my Cuba to Florida Swim ‘Cuba2012’ in a tropical low 13^th-20^th March 2012 as a mini-tornado hit Townsville at 5am this morning!

The planning continues as time ticks by and my June swim from Cuba to Florida draws nearer.

This week I would like to thank the following businesses for their support by sponsoring me on my journey. This is a huge project and their support will greatly help towards the many logistics involved in putting this swim together. Lots more sponsorship opportunities are available so please forward to anyone you think may be interested in sponsoring my swim from Cuba to Florida this June or contact me at pennypalfrey@gmail.com

Wilson/Ryan/Grose Lawyers      http://www.wrg.com.au/

Mike Carney Toyota                     http://www.mikecarneytoyota.com.au/

Jessups                                           http://www.jessupsnq.com.au/

Flowers Sea Swim                         http://www.flowersseaswim.com/

Jupiters Hotel                                 www.jupiterstownsville.com.au

I would also like to thank Offermans www.offermans.com.au for their kind donation.

Townsville businesses that sponsor me will go into the draw to win some great prizes donated by Jupiters Hotel, Townsville.   

This solution is simply safe drinking water.

Yet it is out of reach for a billion people – almost one-sixth of the world’s population.

We have three major challenges in changing these statistics.

1 – Most people have no idea about the problem.
2 – The world has lacked the water project infrastructure to create sustainable access to safe drinking water.
3 – We are missing the global willpower and community to fund projects and build a movement.

I want to help solve each of these challenges in order to bring safe drinking water to every person on our planet.

My crew and I take on epic endurance swimming challenges to capture attention and build awareness of the world’s water crisis. To tackle the second challenge, we partnered with Blue Planet Network, a global community of funders, project implementers, supporters and communities in need that is powered by a scalable online platform to manage the funding, implementation, and monitoring of tens of thousands of water projects. The combination of these two approaches creates a new model for solving what is quickly becoming the world’s most crucial crisis.

The third challenge is up to you. Please help us build the community capable of solving one of humanity’s most important problems. Together we are a powerful force for change. My swim represents the power of ordinary people to conquer incredible challenges. Our goals are focused, measurable, and achievable. The solutions are extremely affordable – $30 can create safe drinking water for one person for most of a lifetime. You can join our movement to pass on this solution by sponsoring the Penny Palfrey Cuba to Florida record-breaking swim. http://blueplanetnetwork.org/waterheroes/penny-palfrey

The message is so important, the 2007 Blue Planet Run Team carried it on foot 15,200 miles through 16 countries all the way around the globe, delivering it hand to hand, face to face, step by step. Together, we must continue, drop by drop until there is safe drinking water for everyone.

Water is life. Pass it on.

Some time ago I wrote about my Santa Barbara Island to California swim and my encounter with a Great White Shark, I’ll put the link below. During this swim I had a Shark Shield attached to my support craft.

Recently I’ve notice some peer pressure against the use of shark deterrents in open water swims. This puzzles me when swimmers around the world use up to date weather systems, GPS navigational equipment, tracking devices and every other form of modern aide available to make for a successful swim and yet a shark deterrent is somehow unacceptable.

Recently after a string of shark attacks in the waters off Western Australia the Rottenest Channel Swimming Association brought in a shark ruling where swimmers were to leave the water in case of a shark sighting.

In my opinion all measures should be taken to make open water swimming safe for both swimmers and sharks. What happens if an open water swimmer is taken by a shark? First the obvious, shock throughout the swimming community and the swimmers family. Secondly, often people are sent out to try to locate the shark in question, and thirdly the swim will probably no longer take place due to the difficulty in getting insurance and sponsors.

To me it makes sense to use a shark deterrent in sharky waters, the deterrents do not harm the sharks. I’ve been accidently zapped by them dozens of times, put simply you wouldn’t touch them twice on purpose. When a shark swims within the Shark Shields range, it feels an unusual sensation to the sensors on its snout and swims away.

I’ve used Shark Shields for several years, in my opinion they not only protect a swimmer, they also protect the sharks, and having wrongly been accused of harming sharks during my Cayman Island swim last year, I know and appreciate how passionate people are about protecting sharks and how important it is that we do so.

Penny Palfrey
My thanks to Jesse Gros for allowing me to use the video footage.
Copyright material. All responses to this post either on or off line may be posted.

Here’s the link mentioned above. Scroll down the page to see my story about the Great White Shark I saw during this swim. http://www.palfreymarathonswims.com/swims/santa-barbara-island-to-california-mainland-swim/