Save the Bay Swim 2007

What a day for Save the Bay's Annual Swim! Last Saturday marked the 31st annual Save the Bay swim from Newport to Jamestown. It is always an amazing site to behold!

This year posed extra and new obstacles for everyone that was on the water. There was a wind of about 10-15 knots out of the west (northwest) (yes, right where the swimmers were swimming into) and quite a bit of chop in the water, probably a little over a foot. Just under 450 people were in the water swimming, a new record for Save the Bay, and many of them had kayakers assisting them. Many swimmers had difficulty with the wind and the chop, and many of the kayakers had difficulty with wind pushing their kayaks around. It was a little nerve wracking for Captain Rob and I to watch all of this from our vessel Swift, knowing that if anyone had too much trouble with the conditions we would be the ones to pull them out. We followed the lead swimmers to the finish line, while Captain Eric and crew member Dave were aboard our other larger vessel Alletta Morris following up behind the swimmers.

Conditions made it difficult for everyone involved. Even the winner of the Swim finished about 4 minutes past his usual time. In all, about 16 swimmers were escorted out of the water by us or the Coast Guard, and about 12 kayakers required asssistance. But everyone remained in good spirits for an excellent feel-good cause of the day, and everyone else crossed the finish line without problems!

There are too many individual motivational stories to give justice to each person's reason for wanting to do this swim, but they range from people overcoming overwhelming physical disabilities (from cancer to being paraplegic), to reaching milestones in their lives (just turning 30, just turning 70, just having a baby), to people just wanting to prove that they can swim 1.7 miles. It is always an inspiring day. So inspiring that I personally am hoping to swim next year instead of working!

How can you not be inspired by so many motivated people, all swimming for the better health of themselves and for Narragansett Bay?

For more information on this year's Swim event, visit http://www.savebay.org/news_06swim_final.asp?&pid=202&srcid=183