Blind B.C. swimmer about to swim across the Strait of Georgia

Following months of training, Scott Rees of North Vancouver is about attempt what few have done before—swim across the cold currents of the Strait of Georgia.

Taking on the 30 kilometre divide between the mainland and Vancouver Island is no small feat for anyone, but perhaps especially not if you’re legally blind.

Rees was born with a recessive genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa, and began to slowly lose his sight in his twenties.

“I don’t have functional vision left, just a bit of light reception,” Rees told CTV News on Sunday.

On July 22, he will plunge into the water at Davis Bay in Sechelt and swim to Pipers Lagoon Park in Nanaimo to raise money for a cause that’s very dear to him: Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind.

“The mobility that I have received through having a guide dog has given me back that freedom of moving around the city, getting to work, getting to the gym, getting to lunches with friends,” he said sitting next his dog, Kaleb. “There’s lots of people out there that need a little bit of extra help to get out of their house, and programs like CGDB make that happen.”

On Sunday, he set out from a beach in West Vancouver, determined to swim for at least 40 kilometres.

On the big day, he’ll be accompanied across the strait by a boat with a doctor aboard.

His friends will keep doing what they’ve done all along, and guide him in the right direction via a wireless headset.

“I have never been involved in fundraising or charitable work, and it was just something that I wanted to do,” he said.