While Penny Penny is completing her final preparations for tomorrow’s assault of the 72-mile Kaieiewaho Channel in Hawaii, economic considerations led Dan Martin to announce the postponement of his highly anticipated Global Triathlon where his first leg was a 5,800K (3,603-mile) swim across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Brest in northwestern France within 3-4 months and without a wetsuit.

Unlike the other three individuals who have crossed the Atlantic largely dependent upon drafting along the ocean currents and with a wetsuit, Dan’s Global Triathlon ocean sea leg was going to follow the standard and more restrictive rules of stage swimming. That is, instead of getting on an escort boat and floating across the ocean when he is resting, sleeping and eating, Dan was going finish each day’s eight-hour swim and then mark his position by GPS. His boat will literally drop him back into the ocean to begin the next day’s swim at the precise spot he finished the day before.

According to Cork, Ireland training partner and friend Ned Denison, “There was a delay in the expected sponsorship for the event. The new target date is May 2011. We had the pleasure of meeting Dan at the 2009 Cork distance swim camp. He impressed [the community] with his training, spirit and helpfulness to other swimmers. Dan will spend another year training to get bigger and stronger and be even better prepared.”

Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones