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If 3.5 miles sounds a little
intense, Leanne La Fave
organizes group swims during
the Y’s TriClub offseason from
April to October.
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
This new 3.5-mile race pro-vides
the challenge of swimming
the Intracoastal Waterway into
Lees Cut, swimming Banks
Channel into Motts Channel and
back into the ICWW. The course
starts and ends at Dockside.
Smith simply doesn’t like
swimming point to point.
“If I want to swim back and
forth, I can do that in a pool,”
she says.
As a coach for the YMCA
Masters Swimming Club, Smith
spends plenty of time organizing
group swims in the channel. In
the ocean, the direction of the
wind is the most important factor
to consider. If you want to swim
in the channel, there’s a lot more
to think about.
“Knowing the tide and the
wind direction makes for an
easier transition into open water,”
Smith says.
La Fave is remembered as
the woman who swam 10 miles
from the north shore of Carolina
Beach to Dockside last sum-mer
in an effort to raise money
for the Zimbabwe Orphan
Empowerment Ministry.
“People will always ask me if I
can add them to the email list
so they’ll know what time and
what direction we’re swimming,”
says La Fave.
Unlike the YMCA masters
group, which sometimes crosses
the channel, La Fave’s group
usually sticks close to the docks.
“If there’s a first-timer, even
if they’re a good swimmer, they
could have panic attacks out there