"It can be seen as a slow, jittery sport but it's completely different when you're on the boat," Mr Geddes said.
"In sailing, it's fast-paced. Things happen quickly."
Mr Geddes said blind sailing relied heavily on the camaraderie of the sailors.
In Chicago, known as the "Windy City", Mr Geddes will race in a B3 team, as opposed to the B2 and B1 teams his fellow racers with poorer vision will race in.
Although Mr Geddes has slightly better sight than his teammates, they will all race with a fully-sighted tactician who will dictate to the sailors where they need to go.
"There's a common set of words and names and different instructions that we follow," Mr Geddes said.
"We understand these terms like 'keep your height'. You want to put your bow up more."
Mr Geddes said blind sailing was a true team sport.
"Everything that any person does affects someone else. Everything is really connected. You are trusting."
Mr Geddes has sailed on and off with his tactician Brian Trubovich for the past three years. Mr Trubovich has been heavily involved in blind sailing in recent years, and is an active member of the Blind Sailing New Zealand Committee.
"It's a real technical sport," Mr Geddes said.
"You are on the water and have to take into account a whole variety of things ... high levels of water, different wind gusts, tide flows, waves, and being in close quarters with other boats.
"It's a real adrenaline sport."
Tauranga has a strong history in blind sailing, most notably with former world champion Paulien Eitjes still a regular sailor on the harbour.
Mr Geddes and Mr Parker will travel with support from the Bay of Plenty Sailing Academy Trust which set up an Acorn endowment to help the local blind sailing group.
Trust chairman Stuart Pedersen said it was fantastic to help support sailors such as Mr Geddes and Mr Parker to compete with the best in the world.
"We are very much looking forward to seeing how they go."
The event runs from Wednesday to Sunday in Chicago, sailing on Lake Michigan.