Providence Journal photo / G. Wayne Miller
At 10:40 a.m. Saturday, the first of four "waves" of swimmers headed into the water at Potter Cover, Jamestown
JAMESTOWN, R.I. -- With the blast of an air horn at 10:40 a.m. Saturday, Save the Bay's 37th swim was underway from Potter Cove. In previous years, the swim began across Narragansett Bay at the Navy complex, but with the federal sequestration budget cuts, the Navy pulled out this year -- leaving the two-mile swim to start and end at the cove.
Sponsored by Citizens Bank, the annual fundraising event attracted some 400 swimmers, according to Peter Hanney, Save the Bay's director of communications.
"Our goal is $350,000," Hanney said. "We're probably $100,000 below that but there are still some pledges that haven't come in -- swimmer pledges and corporate sponsors. We'll get pretty close."