A BC swimmer will be launching off from Vernon as she attempts to longest-ever unassisted swim in Canada.

Jessi Harewicz will take her non-stop swim through the 106-kilometre length of Okanagan Lake to Penticton to fundraise for youth mental health supports.

“This swim is about showing young people that they are worth showing up for,” Harewicz said in a Foundry news release.

A Vancouver-based ultra-marathon swimmer, Harewicz has taken on numerous open-water challenges. She was the first Canadian to cross the North Channel from Ireland to Scotland and holds the record for the longest documented swim in the Salish Sea, crossing from Nanaimo to Kitsilano Beach.

From July 10 to 12, she plans to span the length of the Okanagan’s waters.

“The challenges I will face in the water are temporary. The challenges many young people face with their mental health can feel overwhelming and isolating,” she said in the release. “If this swim can help bring support closer to home for even one yougn person, then every kilometre will be worth it.

Any funds raised will go toward Foundry, which offers mental health support for people from ages 12 to 24 in three locations across the Okanagan, while also supporting expansion in the North Okanagan and the newly-opened Summerland location, according to the news release.

“Every kilometre she swims is a reminder that young people deserve access to support, hope and connection,” Mike Gawliuk, CEO of Canadian Mental Health Association Kelowna, said in the release.

The current record for a similar open-water, unassisted swim within Canada appears to be a 2022 swim in Lake Ontario, netting just over 100 km.

More information on the fundraiser can be found here.