On July 17, 1998, 17-year-old Richard David Rees went sailing on Nottawasaga Bay from Sunnyside Beach in Meaford, Ontario with his brother Ronald Rees and a friend, Gregory Cook. The three left in a Schwill DS16 sailboat; the boat was later found capsized. Ronald’s body was recovered within a week, but Richard and Gregory were not found despite an extensive Canadian Coast Guard search.

After the official search ended, the families hired a U.S. firm with specialized underwater search equipment, but those efforts did not recover Richard or Gregory. In response to the tragedy, the families and Ronald’s partner, singer/composer Loreena McKennitt, established The Cook-Rees Memorial Fund For Water Search And Safety to promote water safety and support training and equipment for underwater search and recovery teams.

If anyone has information about that day on Nottawasaga Bay or remembers seeing the boat or the three sailors on July 17, 1998, please come forward.