Hundreds of swimmers and kayakers embarked on the 39th annual 1.7-mile Save The Bay Swim held on Saturday, July 11.

The swim, which was started in 1977, is Save The Bay’s largest annual fundraiser in its efforts to protect and restore the Narragansett Bay region. Every year, nearly 500 swimmers and about 200 kayakers, cross the 1.7 nautical miles from the Naval Station Newport on Coaster’s Harbor Island across the East Passage to Jamestown’s Potter Cove.

Each swimmer is required to raise a minimum of $400 to participate. Save The Bay generally raises about $350,000 a year from swimmers and pledges, which will serve as critical support to the efforts to protect and restore the Narragansett Bay Region and its watershed through advocacy and education. Save The Bay hopes to exceed their goal of $350,000 for 2015 by the fundraising deadline of Aug. 31.

This year’s swim boasted an estimated 402 swimmers. Some of the youngest swimmers were teenagers from around Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut, ranging from 15-18 years old.

One of these participants was first-time Bay swimmer Sophia Caracuzzo, 16, of Warwick. In an interview with Save The Bay, Caracuzzao said she chose to swim after watching her mother complete the swim for the past three years. Caracuzzo is captain of the Pilgrim swim team and also volunteers at Save The Bay’s Exploration and Aquatic Center and Aquarium in Newport.

Cindy Sabato, director of communications for Save The Bay, is not surprised at the number of young participants featured in this year’s swim.

“Swimming is definitely not an age limited sport. Our minimum age requirement to participate is 15, but we’ve had swimmers as old as 84,” said Sabato. “Save The Bay Swim offers people a unique opportunity for swimming that they wouldn’t be able to do at any other time,” said Sabato.

Saboto emphasized that while the number of participants has increased over the years, the biggest change to the swim has been the quality of the bay itself.

“During the early years of the swim, swimmers often emerged from the water with oil and tar balls on their skin and swimsuits,” said Sabato.

Sabato feels the progress made cleaning up Narragansett Bay has been tremendous. Save The Bay is responsible for efforts to restore water quality and improve the ecological health of surrounding watershed areas through watchdog groups, public education, legislation and habitat restoration. The goal of the largest environmental group in Rhode Island is a fully swimmable, fishable, healthy Narragansett Bay accessible to all.

“This year one of the first wave participants actually saw a school of fish swimming beneath them, and that’s really what Save The Bay is all about,” said Sabato.