THE FIRST TIME I SAW
Alex Fong saw Hong Kong Island in a new light when he swam 45 kilometres around it
BEFORE UNDERTAKING
a 45-kilometre swim around Hong Kong island for charity in November, I trained for a year in the swimming pool and had my first open water swim in August. But preparation is never enough – I still overestimated my ability, and underestimated the difficulty of the sea.
Before the event, I rented a speedboat to take a field trip to Shek O – but I didn’t notice how big the waves were. On the day of the challenge, the waves repeatedly pushed against my body, making me feel seasick. People watching from the shore were particularly worried. My coach swam with me for a while, but the waves were huge; one minute I could reach her, the next she was five metres away. One minute she was above me, the next she was below.
I was nervous because I didn’t know how much energy and time I was going to waste. Still, I tried to stay focused. Later, another athlete joined me in the water, which gave me great encouragement.
After the challenge, I understood that swimming alone doesn’t mean swimming alone. A lot of people helped me. People often want to do big things, to change the world. But if you focus on what you can do, it affects everyone around you. I used to think charity was about me helping people, but now I think it’s about people changing me. They make me understand the world better, and make me a better person.
Alex Fong is a Hong Kong singer, actor and former Olympic swimmer who swam around Hong Kong Island in a recordbreaking 10 hours and 43 minutes to raise money for A Drop of Life, which brings clean drinking water to impoverished communities in Cambodia, China and Nepal.在接受去年11月的慈善挑戰45公里香港環島泳之前，我提早一年在泳池訓練體能，到去年8月才第一次出海游泳。但準備永遠是不夠充分的，我還是高估了自己的能力，低估了海的難度。
我曾租過快艇到石澳進行實地考察，但到挑戰當天才真正見識到石澳的大浪。當時海浪反覆地推撞著我的身體，讓我有暈船的感覺，在岸上的人都看得特別擔心。我的教練陪我游了一會，但浪非常大。前一秒她還在我伸手可及的地方，下一秒就在五公尺以外，一會兒在我上面，一會兒在下面。
我很緊張，因為我不知道在這裡會浪費多少的體力和時間，但我依然努力保持專心一志。後來另外一個運動員下水了，我們一起在海中堅持，這給了我很大的鼓勵。
這次挑戰結束以後，我更加明白到雖然現在我是一個人游泳，但我並非只是獨自一人，這一切承蒙很多人的幫助。人常常想要做很大的事，去改變世界。但其實只要做好自己，就會影響身邊的人。以前覺得行善是我去幫助別人，但現在我認為是他人在改變我，讓我更加了解世界，讓我變成一個更好的人。
方力申是香港歌手和演員，亦曾是參加奧運的香港游泳代表隊隊員。早前他為機構「點滴是生命」慈善籌款接受香港環島泳挑戰，以破紀錄的時間10小時43分鐘完成。「點滴是生命」致力為柬埔寨、中國和尼泊爾等國家的貧困地區帶來潔淨的水源。