This week I put together a few film clips to make a short video of my 2009 Santa Barbara to Mainland California Swim in 2009.

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/

Penny Palfrey training for her Cuba to Florida Swim 2012

Feedback from this video;

Q: Are those waters that dangerous that the net needs to be
there?

A: Sharks; Cleveland Bay is a known breeding ground for Tiger Sharks amongst other species of sharks who live in this region. The Magnetic Island swim was held in shark cages for many years, however with less than a dozen cages is severely limited the number of swimmers who could participate, so a few years ago the shark cages were done away with and now there are about
100 swimmers who compete annually.

Saltwater Crocodiles (man eaters); when there’s a croc sighting the beach is closed for three days.

Box Jellyfish; Now these guys are the reason for the stinger nets, they are the most venomous marine creature known to mankind and can often be fatal. We also have the Irukandji jellyfish which can also be fatal however the Irukandji is only the size of a thumbnail so the stinger enclosure will not prevent these little guys.

Sharks, Crocs and dangerous jellyfish have all been known to find their way into stinger enclosures. http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/box-jellyfish.html

The Australian Box Jellyfish

www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com

On Saturday the story of my quest to swim from Cuba – Florida in June made the front-page of our local newspaper The Townsville Bulletin, as well as a full double page article inside this weekend’s paper!

Townsville’s the second largest city in Queensland and the 6th in Australia, so it’s going to be read by many North Queenslanders over the weekend! Huge thanks goes to the Townsville Bulletin and Jupiters Hotel for their support and leading the way for other businesses to follow, C’mon Townsville, C’mon Australia, C’mon USA…. jump on board and be part of my great adventure!

My training is going well; I’m putting in the big miles and swimming around 90 kilometres per week, all in open water. In fact I’ve swum well over 500k’s since January 1st 2012, as well as an hour of land work including weights and physio bands 5 days a week.

Swim On!

Link to the Townsville Bulletin article;

http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2012/02/11/305051_news.html

Other Related links;
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/
www.jupiterstownsville.com.au

Fox Sports http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/grandma-49-reportedly-to-swim-from-Cuba-to-Florida-021012

Cuba country via Fox Sports http://cariblive.com/country/Cuba

China National News http://story.chinanationalnews.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/b8de8e630faf3631/id/203402115/

~Penny

For some time now, the team at Jupiters Townsville have been following my blog…thanks guys and girls!

It was just before Christmas when their promotions department contacted me with regard to my upcoming swimming challenges for 2012 and Jupiters Hotel becoming a partner sponsor.

I think they were quite blown away when they learned that most of my swims are self funded.
Once I start talking swimming, well that’s it, I’m talking about tides and moons, charter boats, kayakers, suits, goggles, feeds, training…so many things. Many people are truly unaware of how much is involved in organising a marathon swim, in particular one that has never or rarely been accomplished before, I think my enthusiasm and passion is infectious!

Today I was presented with a cheque to help towards the costs of my Cuba to Florida swim and some fabulous prizes to entice other businesses to follow Jupiters lead in supporting my 166 kilometre swimming challenge from Cuba to Florida this June!

Managing Director Sean Knights said “Jupiters was committed to good corporate citizenship and placed great value on being able to support the community in which we operate.” “We are proud to support Penny on her next quest and we look forward to a successful year for Penny both in and out of the water in 2012.”

With the momentum building towards my Cuba to Florida swim in June it’s wonderful to have the support of Jupiters Townsville Hotel and its staff!

Jupiters are also proud sponsors of our local football team the Cowboys (that’s ruby league to many) and our national basketball team the Townsville Crocodiles!

Keep following my blog for the latest news of my K4K sponsorship plan coming soon, or contact me now to learn how your business can sponsor my swim, gain some great publicity and go into the draw to win some fabulous prizes including a 2012 season fully signed Cowboys Jersey!

www.jupiterstownsville.com.au