THE EDITOR: I write on behalf of a group of swimmers who have been swimming the Macqueripe Bay every Sunday, religiously, for the past 30 or 35 years. On February 26, however, members of the group faced a close to three-hour ordeal and had it not been for the prompt response of the Coast Guard, this story would have had an unfortunate ending.

Six of the swimmers got swept up in an extremely powerful ocean current, which pinned three of them against the western wall of the bay, dragged two of them out to the western point, while the sixth, who was the least experienced of the lot, but nevertheless equipped with a brightly coloured rescue can, disappeared from sight completely.

Meanwhile, on the beach, one person went to get help while others kept scouring the sides of the bay as well as out to sea for any sign of the sixth swimmer. After nearly two hours, the first five were able to make their way back to the beach, but there was still no sign of the sixth swimmer.

Coming up on the three-hour mark, someone finally caught sight of a tiny speck of red that was located outside of the bay among the waves in the open sea. It was just about this time, though, that the Coast Guard finally appeared, and they were able to pluck him from the water.

He was exhausted and unable to speak coherently. He bore numerous cuts on his arms, chest and legs, which he got as he tried to hold on to rocks against the relentless waves.

In his own words, when he was finally able to speak, he said he felt lucky to be alive, as he was about to give up.

Therefore, we again extend our heartfelt thanks to the Coast Guard for their very professional response to this crisis.

GARTH J CAMERON

cgarth@hotmail.com