On Saturday, July 23, Meredith Cleasby, 45, of Warwick, became the first individual to complete the 40th annual Save The Bay Swim, three weeks ahead of the actual event on Aug. 13.

The amateur triathlete was looking forward to her very first Save The Bay Swim, but had a scheduling conflict on the day of the event. So she took advantage of Save The Bay’s “virtual swim” option and headed into “the beautiful waters of Mackerel Cove in Jamestown to complete the 1.7-nautical-mile swim in 70 minutes,” Cleasby said.

Cleasby did her virtual swim at Mackerel Cove, which was recommended to her by friends for its water quality and shelter from boat traffic. With her fiancé kayaking alongside her, she took off.

“The water was gorgeous – crystal clear and really refreshing on a 95-degree day. The current wasn’t too challenging, and before I knew it, I’d completed the distance and it was time to sail home,” said Cleasby, who advises new open water swimmers to count their strokes to help calm any nerves until their breathing is under control.

While some swimmers with a scheduling conflict might simply forgo the Swim, for Cleasby, an event production manager whose world is filled with all manner of charitable events, Narragansett Bay is just too important.

“As a native Rhode Islander, I consider the bay to be our state’s finest treasure. The bay is both our playground and the backdrop to our lives here in Rhode Island,” she said. “Save The Bay is our advocate to ensuring the bay thrives as a resources for future generations.”

The 40th annual Save The Bay Swim will be held Aug. 13. Nearly 500 swimmers and 200 kayakers between the ages of 15 and 83-plus annually participate in the 1.7-nautical-mile journey from Naval Station Newport on Coaster’s Harbor Island across the East Passage to Jamestown’s Potter Cove.

One of the most storied open-water swims in the United States, the Save The Bay Swim celebrates tremendous progress in cleaning up Narragansett Bay since its first official Swim in 1977 and the organization’s founding in 1970. In the early years of the Swim, swimmers often emerged from the water with oil and tar balls on their skin and swimsuits. Last year, swimmers reported seeing schools of menhaden beneath them as they swam.

For more information and to register for the Swim, as a swimmer or virtual swimmer, visit savebay.org/theswim.