Visually impaired Vancouverite to swim across Georgia Strait for a good cause
Scott Rees, a 40-year-old visually impaired man from Vancouver, will swim 30 kilometres across the Georgia Strait to raise money so that others like him can receive a guide dog.
During his 10 to 12-hour swim, Rees will be aided by his brother-in-law and his three friends on support boats helping him with navigation, nutrition, and medical assistance.
To stay on his route from Davis Bay, Sechelt to Pipers Lagoon Park in Nanaimo, he will wear a bone-conducting headset and radio to help him receive instructions from his support team.
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Rees, who has a recessive genetic eye condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa, was born with relatively normal vision and was a very active individual before he gradually lost his vision. Being a competitive swimmer as a kid, he continued swimming even after his vision loss with support from his family and friends and special gear.
“Swimming is an activity that has stuck with me through it all. It just seemed like a good combination of putting together a really tough swim with fundraiser and raising awareness,” Rees said. “That would kind of, I guess you’d say, kill two birds with one stone.”
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Rees, a civil engineer at a Vancouver company, started the fundraiser Swim the Straight as a charity event for the non-profit Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind. The fundraiser reached its goal of raising $100,000 two days ago.
Rees has been a client of the CGDB for the last two years and is guided by Kaleb, a six-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever.
Rees said getting Kaleb “was a huge improvement” in his lifestyle. “Having the assistance of a guide dog, I regained a lot of mobility that I had lost as my vision went,” he said.
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Kaleb, who has been with Rees and his family for two years now, is more than a guide for them. “He is a big part of the family,” Rees said. “When he is not working, he is just a Labrador Retriever. He is a goofy dog,” he added.
If all goes according to plan, Rees will set sail on July 22, but strong currents and bad weather could set his swim back by a couple of days.
“This is definitely no small feat for me,” Rees said. Since conceiving this plan in late 2022, he has been training every day for the last six months. Despite swimming in both open water and pools, the longest that Rees has swam has been five hours, which he did just last weekend.
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Despite challenges like balancing his daily practice with full-time work and giving time to his family and technical issues related to the swim gear, Rees keeps working towards his goal.
“I’ve got a big support network of friends and family, and even just total strangers. I’ve got all these people watching and rooting for me cheering me on. That’s enough to keep you going,” he told Daily Hive.
Although Rees will be completing the swim all by himself, he hopes to be joined by his friend for parts of the route. He is also hoping to be joined by a group of enthusiasts on a separate boat who will keep him company, but that plan is still underway.
“Knowing that somebody else is in the water and slogging it out there with you is going to be a nice mental support,” he said.
In the past, 11 people have swam across the Georgia Strait with only three of them taking the same route as Rees, according to the Longswims database. In 2010, James Monk became the first and fastest person to swim from Sechelt to Nanaimo across the Strait. Other people who have completed the route are Jessi Harewicz (2016) and Rod Craig (2010).
To support Scott Rees in his initiative, you can donate online.
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