Palfrey ends Cuba-Florida swim amid strong current
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) -- A 49-year-old grandmother and veteran endurance swimmer scuttled her quest early Sunday to become the first woman to swim unaided from Cuba to the Florida Keys, unable to close the gap on the last 26 miles of a more than 100-mile ocean odyssey.
Penny Palfrey had fended off painful jellyfish stings while keeping an eye on hammerhead sharks as she attempted the crossing without a shark cage. But her support team said the tricky currents of the Florida Straits proved to be her biggest obstacle, thwarting her achingly close to her goal.
All told, the British-born Australian athlete had been swimming nearly 41 hours since plunging into balmy waters near Havana, Cuba, on Friday to start out. She was about three-quarters of the way into her swim when she gave up the effort about midnight, just 26 miles south of Florida's Key West.
Her crew tweeted few details early Sunday of the end of her quest but said: "Penny Palfrey had to be pulled out of the water ... due to a strong southeast current that made it impossible for her to continue her swim. Penny is presently on her escort boat being taken care of by her crew."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CUBA_SWIMMING_TO_FLORIDA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-07-01-03-47-18
I'm hoping the Ladies in White will attempt the same swim soon to get themselves over to Miami where they belong. 
= new reply since forum marked as read
But they're anti-embargo and would be supportive of this woman.
