Lake Murray, SC (Paul Kirby) - The 21st Annual Lake Murray Dam Swim will take place this weekend. Each year the swim is held to honor the life and death of Drew Smith. He was killed by an intoxicated boater who ran over the boat he and his father were fishing from years ago.
Each year Drew’s family and friends hold this swim to celebrate the difference this little boy has made to boating safety in South Carolina. Because of Drew, South Carolina now enforces the Boating Safety and Reform Act of 1999 or Drew’s Law. This legislation raised the penalties for boating violations to equal that of similar highway violations. Most notably, the penalty for any accident resulting in death from Boating Under the Influence (BUI) was greatly increased.
Since Drew’s law went into effect, boating fatalities statewide have dropped. The purpose of this event is to promote Water and Boating safety and to finance an indoor swimming facility in memory of Drew Smith in Lexington, SC.
The swim is two miles in open water. It’s sponsored by Lexington and River Bluff High Schools SWIM teams. The whole purpose of this event is to promote boating and swimming safety in memory of Drew Smith.
The swim’s registration and check in will be held at the Dominion/SCE&G park on the Lexington side. Swimmers will be bused over to Irmo for race start after the pre-race meeting on the beach of the Lexington park. The swim is at 8:00 a.m. All funds raised will go toward that indoor pool in Lexington community where community members can learn to swim safely. For more information, go to the event's Facebook page by following this LINK. You can also checkout the event’s webpage by following this LINK.
