Australian marathon swimmer Penny Palfrey completed the third of her planned three swims, Friday. The completion of the swim from Kaua‘i to Ni‘ihau accomplished the Australian’s goal of swimming three channels in Hawai‘i in three weeks before returning home. “Penny,
Australian marathon swimmer Penny Palfrey completed the third of her planned three swims, Friday.
The completion of the swim from Kaua‘i to Ni‘ihau accomplished the Australian’s goal of swimming three channels in Hawai‘i in three weeks before returning home.
“Penny, Forrest Nelson, a good friend from Los Angeles, Calif., and I swam the Kaulakahi Channel from Kaua‘i to Ni‘ihau, a distance of 17.4 nautical miles,” said Chris Palfrey, Penny’s husband, on their website.
“The closest point-to-point course is 14.6 nautical miles, but is not possible to either start from, or finish at, either of these two points.”
The trio accomplished the feat in about nine hours after enduring choppy surf, strong currents and high winds to finish at the high water mark at Ni‘ihau shortly before 6 p.m., Friday, said Diane Ako of the Halekulani Corp. in an email advisory.
“Penny came to Hawai‘i with the goal of swimming three channels in three weeks, and did exactly that,” Ako said in the email.
Prior to the Kaua‘i to Ni‘ihau swim, Penny completed a swim of the Kaiwi Channel, more commonly known as the Moloka‘i Channel, and establishing a new record for the swim on the same date an earthquake and resulting tsunami wrecked havoc in Japan, March 11.
Overcoming a tsunami warning, turbulent seas and a strong wind, Penny touched down on O‘ahu in a record time of 11 hours, 40 minutes and 33 seconds, breaking her husband’s previous record swim by one hour 13 minutes following the 26-mile crossing.
“Penny is the 14th person to cross the Moloka‘i Channel, and the fifth woman to accomplish the feat,” Chris said on the website.
“Penny and I are the first married couple to swim the Moloka‘i Channel, and we currently hold the men’s and women’s records for one of the world’s toughest marathon channel swims.”
Her first swim was on March 5 when she completed the Alakakeiki, or Kaho‘olawe to Maui channel, a distance of seven miles.
In November 2010, Penny, a former Olympic hopeful and 48-year-old grandmother, attempted the O‘ahu-to-Kaua‘i channel swim, that effort being aborted following encounters with stinging Portuguese man-o-war.
She leaves the door open for a third try of this channel at some point in the future.
Ako said the couple will spend a few days recuperating at the Waikiki Parc Hotel on O‘ahu, before returning to Australia.
Visit www.palfreymarathonswims.com for more information.
