Blind man to swim from Sechelt to Nanaimo on Sunday

Scott Rees will attempt to cross the Georgia Strait this Sunday to raise money for Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind

Scott Rees, who is blind, will attempt to swim across the Georgia Strait from Davis Bay in Sechelt to Pipers Lagoon in Nanaimo on Sunday to raise money for the Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind. His guide dog Kaleb will be waiting on the beach with his wife and two children. Photo provided.

Scott Rees has been training for months to swim across the Georgia Strait from Davis Bay in Sechelt to Nanaimo’s Pipers Lagoon on Vancouver Island. The swim is 30 kilometers, about the same distance as the English Channel. Originally scheduled for Saturday, the attempt has been pushed back until Sunday, July 23.

While this would be a challenging feat for any athlete, Rees also has a recessive genetic eye condition, called Retinitis Pigmentosa, which has caused a gradual loss of his vision over the past 15 years.

He’s raising money for the Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind after the organization matched him with his guide dog Kaleb, a 75 lb yellow lab, in 2021.

“He loves the kids and my wife and is a big, goofy dog when he's not on duty.”

When he is working, Kaleb helps Rees navigate his daily life.

“What they've done for me is given me back my mobility, something that I'd lost as my vision deteriorated was the ability to navigate on my own and now I can do that again with Caleb as my support,” said Rees. “I can get around public transit, get on buses, get around the city, go to the gym, work or to meet friends and do normal things that become very challenging when you can't see.”

Rees was a competitive swimmer as a kid, swimming for the Williams Lake Blue Fins, but got into sports like mountain biking, whitewater kayaking and downhill skiing before his vision deteriorated.

“I really got back into swimming as I had to give up some of those other activities and I was looking for a good way to stay active and keep myself busy and doing something interesting,” he said. “Open water swimming filled that void.”

He will use a waterproof headset while making the 10-hour swim with a support team in a boat providing information to him on the swim. Two weeks ago he swam for five hours, just over half the distance of the crossing on Sunday, after working his way up from one hour swims over the past six months. In total, Rees has logged 460 kilometers swimming this year.

“I think I'm ready, but it's a long time out there and I know it's going to hurt,” he said. “After a while it's going to be a head game. Just knowing that you've got a long time left and just battling it out.”

As of Friday, Rees has raised over $108,000 for the charity through his website swimthestrait.ca.

“I set out with a much more modest fundraising goal of $10,000 thinking that friends and family and some colleagues would get behind me and it went way bigger than that.”

Rees is estimated to arrive in Nanaimo around 4 p.m. on Sunday, where his wife Alexandra, their two children and guide dog Kaleb will greet him. You can follow his progress on swimthestrait on Instagram and Facebook.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.