The fifth annual L. Wayne Hudgins Memorial Wharf to Wharf Swim will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Williams Wharf on the East River in Mathews. Fifty swimmers are expected, according to Mimi Ulsaker, an organizer and one of the swimmers.

The event is a fundraiser to benefit the Mathews Land Conservancy’s Boathouse Building Project. The planned boathouse is the final stage of the Williams Wharf Landing Project, a decades’ old initiative that has acquired, protected, maintained and operated this historically significant maritime site for the public, Ulsaker said. The Mathews championship rowing programs operate here as well as other programs and activities.

Among the swimmers will be Ensign Tucker Witt, returning to defend his title; and Tim Hudgins and Anna Hudgins, son and granddaughter of swim namesake L. Wayne Hudgins, who was an early supporter and organizer of the Mathews Land Conservancy. He died in 2009.
The swim is a 1,400-meter (almost one mile) round trip that...