Penny Dean

Penny Lee Dean is an American long distance swimmer who began her career with her swim across frigid San Francisco bay at age 10. She is best known for having the fastest time for anyone to swim from Catalina to California in 7:15:55 in 1976, and the fastest time to swim the English Channel in 1978 in 7:40.

Dean was born on March 21, 1955, in San Francisco, California, United States, to Joseph Edward and Frances (Von Hermann) Dean.