near tragedy at changi point

the double drowning tragedy in the waters off pasir ris park recently brought me back to those days when i used to go swimming at changi point with my neighbours. my memory is so vague that i cannot remember how we made our way there. probably, we used the public transport.

changi point was, and still is, a popular picnic area during weekends. we would pack food and drinks, a ground sheet and a portable radio and we would spend the whole day at the beach. by then, i had already learnt how to swim. though not a very proficient swimmer, i had the stamina to swim long distances.

most of the time we would swim close to the shore. on that particular day, a barge - cannot remember what it was carrying - was moored about 100 metres from the shore. we challenged ourselves to swim to the barge and back. using the breaststroke, we all managed to reach the barge. we hanged on to the side of the barge for a while to recover our strength and breathing before heading back to the beach.

as we were making for the shore, we found that we had to use more strength to make progress. after swimming for about twenty metres, we found ourselves tiring very fast and struggling. the tide was receding and the strong currents were hindering our forward movement. no matter how much effort we exerted, we seemed to be swimming at the same spot; we were not getting any nearer to the shore. seized by panic, we decided to swim back to the barge.

i think our decision to get back to the barge probably saved our lives. we waited at the barge for more than an hour before those on the beach realised that we were marooned on the barge. they hired a sampan and rowed out to the sea to rescue us.

if you swim in the sea, you should swim close to the shore. if you want to swim more, then you should swim parallel to the shore. it is not advisable to swim alone. to swim in the dark and to rely too much on a floatation device.