Photo: CTV

Hypothermia forced a Victoria swimmer to abandon a bid to cross the Juan de Fuca Strait and back.

Susan Simmons, who has multiple sclerosis, left Ogden Point on Saturday, but was pulled from the water after 8 1/2 hours.

Simmons says conditions worsened as she swam and she was unable to keep food down. The water temperature was just 9 C.

“I stopped to talk to my crew, and I could just feel there was something wrong with my body. And then I started shivering,” Simmons told CTV. “I normally don’t shiver, so I had promised myself and the kids at Sangster Elementary that if anything like that happened, I would exit the water.”

Last year, Simmons successfully swam one way across the strait and hoped to make the record swim to inspire others with MS.

– with files from CTV Vancouver Island