The Catalina Island Swim Club could not be described as large. It’s not even any kind of official club. It’s really just a group of people who gather to swim in the harbor every day when the weather allows.
Yet, despite their size and lack of any official organization, the club has ventured into the realm of trying to use their club for a good cause. Usually, the swim days are just whoever shows up and wants to go for morning swim. It’s very casual and low key.
“We don’t even have t-shirts because nobody could decide,” Claudia Canby says with a laugh.
Claudia and her husband Charlie could be considered board members, if they had one, for the club. It really began about 20 years ago, when Charlie started going for morning swims to help with back problems. Claudia didn’t decide to hit the water until a few years ago. But in between people started to join the morning swims when they had the time.
Flash forward to 2016, and the club had a good number of people who would show up on any given day. One day in 2016, they decided to make the swim a birthday celebration for Carol Ann Burcumbe. There were about eight participants that day who swam from Campus by the Sea to Casino Point. The swim was a hit with all the participants.
“The comradery and challenge was so much fun we decided to repeat the swim the next year,” Charlie Canby said.
By 2017, a popular retired nurse from Avalon Hospital, Richard Kleinman, was fighting pancreatic cancer. A former co-worker of his, Santa Dominguez, suggested the club swim for Richard’s cause. That year, the swim became a fundraiser for Pan Can, an organization that is dedicated to the treatment and prevention of pancreatic cancer.
That year, the club had about 20 swimmers, who had gathered pledges for their swim. They raised about $2,000 for Pan Can and felt pretty good. They immediately agreed to continue the Swim for Pancreatic Cancer in 2018, with the goal of making it bigger and raising more money.
In order to make the swim more manageable for any level swimmer, they added other options than the more than 2-mile swim they had done in prior years. There was a 2.2-mile swim from Casino Point to Frog Rock and back. There was the a one-mile swim to Hamilton Cove and back and a half-mile swim to Descanso Beach and back. There was even a “get wet” plunge that allowed participants to just jump in the water and get back out.
Once the lineup was set, the next step was getting the word out to draw in more participants and, hopefully, more donations to the cause.
One night, Charlie was listening to “Hook, line and sinker,” with Bob and Teri and he said Bob Schelly was more talkative that usual. Charlie decided to call in and suggest Bob talk less and play more music. But Bob took the call, Charlie decided not to waste his call busting Bob’s chops, but rather use it to ask for his help getting the word out about the swim. Turns out it was a fortuitous change of topic.
Charlie said that after that call, Bob “took the bull by the horns,” and he and Teri made it a priority to not only get the word out, but personally seek out donations. They wound up raising about $2,000 on their own. That brought up last year’s total to more than $4,500 that went to Pan Can.
Bob and Teri took on the 2.2-mile swim last year, which Teri admits was tough. But they have been training this year to improve their times. They are also looking to improve their donations as well.
“We’re back this year to help, and our goal is to double what we collected last year,” Teri said. “We have been out in the community asking all the businesses for donations, and everybody is donating again with generous hearts.”
Anyone who donates through Bob and Teri are getting a shout out on their radio show. She said they were thankful that Charlie, Claudia and Santa for getting the event started and happy to have been invited to participate.
Unfortunately, Richard Kleinman passed away last year, on Sept. 27, more than three years after his diagnosis of stage 2 pancreatic cancer. On Sept. 21, the third swim for pancreatic cancer will take place in Richard’s honor. There is no need to pre-register for the event, it’s casual. Participants can show up, make a donation and jump in the water. However, pre-notification by anyone planning to participate is appreciated, as the group is getting donations of fruit, drinks and breakfast pastries for participants and a general head count would be helpful.
There are again several distances to swim, 2.2 miles, 1 mile and half mile. The “get wet” plunge is also available, as is the Dog Swim competition for best water retrieving dog and furthest swimming dog. Contact Charlie Canby (310-809-0661), Claudia Canby (310-809-0629) or Santa Dominguez (619-886-0497) by phone text for more information, or to pre-enroll to help the planning effort.
One of their Sponsors is XTERRA wet suits, which is donating swim gear, back packs and other swim gear to all participants.
