Death by wave-pool
For my 10th birthday my folks rented the local swimming pool for a swimming party. Said pool had the added bonus of a wave machine and large (6' x 4') floats you could sit on.

Me and 3 friends were mucking about on one of the floating mats when the pool operators turned the wave machine on. Unfortunately large buoyancy aids, 2ft waves and sugar-fuelled kids don't mix. The raft capsized, thowing us all in the water, and my 3 friends all climbed back on board. I, however, had attempted to surface underneath the mat (now weighed down by three kids) and so naturally couldn't get a lungfull of livegiving air.

Being a bit of a wuss I'd never been able to open my eyes underwater (chlorine stings) and in my panicked little brain I came to the conlcusion that somehow I'd been sucked into the pipe system for the swimming pool.

With my eyes firmly shut, starting to freak out and really wanting to start breathing soon, I swam in what I assumed was the direction of the opening for the pipe before rising to the surface and gulping down some much needed oxygen. Of course I was a mere 3ft or so from my friends who were mucking about quite merrily, blissfully unaware of the near-death experience I'd just had. That said, they looked like they were having fun, so it didn't take me long to get over it and join in myself.
(jazi, Mon 29 Nov 2004, 11:47, Reply)