The Way Down

EMMA'S BOAT

Part Five

As I stepped up to the edge of the cliff I realized for the first time just how high we had climbed. This was no ten foot drop. It looked to be more like fifty feet, my head swam and I felt my gut turn, we were going to jump off of here?!? I backed away from the edge quickly, taking four or five fast steps backwards and crashing right into Emma.

Emma managed to keep her balance and grabbed onto my jacket to keep me from taking another fall.

“Woh there”

I just looked at her, hanging limp for a moment, slowly getting feet back under me.

“You want to jump from here??”

“Haha” Emma let out a small laugh before she caught herself, and gave me a smile that was meant to be reassuring, but to me just looked crazy. “You'll be fine! We jump here all the time, and you've got a life jacket and helmet in case you mess up” She gave me a pat on the shoulder of my jacket and knocked on my helmet with her knuckles.

Mike and Jamie were approaching from behind and Emma turned to them as they walked up. I took the opportunity to approach the edge of the cliff again; looking over the edge I could understand in principle why this was a good place to jump from The water below was a still pool, it was fed on the left by a set of rapids that was practically a small waterfall, but the river widened out to a nearly perfect circular pool that looked very deep. On the right the water flowed out through a set of narrows with steep walls on either side. The cliff hung out over the pool so I couldn’t see the bank below us, the far side was quite steep and rocky.

I realized suddenly that despite having been strapped into the kiddy jacket all day I had not been in the water with it on. I was about to experience what it was like to actually use the life jacket for the first time. I found myself a little curious what it would be like. I knew the idea was that the lifejacket would float, that was the whole point, but I couldn’t recall ever actually wearing a lifejacket in the water; let alone a kiddy one with a collar and crotch strap. The closest experience I could think of would be floating in a pool with the help of a foam noodle. I guessed that this would be different. The train of thought brought my mind back to the lifejacket for the millionth time. The urge to twist around and pull at my wedge returned but I managed to ignore it.

Mike and Jamie joined us at the edge.

“Well, ready?”

“Yup!” Emma gave out a yell as she jumped off the ledge with no further ceremony.

I watched wide eyed as she fell for several seconds before impacting the water. A moment later she popped up to the surface and quickly swam off to the side, clearing the landing zone.

Mike and Steph stepped up to the edge. Steph pulled at her life jacket as she stood on the edge. I tried not to openly stare as she pulled at her crotch strap, fixing her wedgie. As Emma got clear they jumped together, screaming most of the way down. The collar of Steph’s life jacket flapping in the breeze behind her as she fell through the air. Watching them hit the water Steph popped back to surface a moment before Mike and quickly rotated over onto her back. Mike was quick to clear the way, immediately swimming to the side. But we had to wait a few moments for Steph who remained floating on her back for a minute or so before slowly rolling onto her stomach and swimming off. I only just now realized that the pool must have a bit of current, Emma had drifted a long way towards the narrows despite appearing to be treading water in place. Looking closely I could see that Mike and Steph (who was now on her back again) were also drifting that direction, though more slowly than Emma.

“Ok you ready?” Jamie was looking at me.

I didn’t feel ready but just looked back and nodded. Without waiting for further confirmation Jamie turned back to the edge and took two fast steps, jumping out into open space. Focusing intently on not looking down I took two steps back, grabbed my lifejacket tightly and ran forward jumping off the ledge and falling though open sky. I felt the ground rush up toward me as I plummeted through the air. With my eyes shut it felt almost like I was floating weightless in space, were it not for the rushing air tussling my hair and the flapping of the lifejackets collar. Then I hit the water, smashing through the surface like a cannonball. I felt the impact with the water yank on my life jacket and helmet. I was completely disoriented, feeling like I was upside down. I twisted and squirmed around and got a mouthful of water when I accidentally opened my mouth to yell. I was panicking, feeling like I was unable to get to the surface. My life jacket was pulled up sharply under my armpits and the strap between my legs was drawn up into what should have been an uncomfortable wedgie, but in my current state of panic I was actually happy to have it. I was instinctively aware that the strap running tightly between my legs was holding me in the life jacket, making it impossible to slip out of it. It felt like someone was pulling on my lifejacket , yanking me backwards. Then I broke the surface and was floating, still squirming, splashing around on my back. I coughed up a bit of water and got a good deep breath of air. Calming down, I realized the life jacket was keeping me on the surface and, slowly, stopped my splashing. To my surprise my jacket held me stable on the surface of the water, even without any effort on my part. I wasn’t sure why that surprised me, I knew that was what it was for, but having never actually been in the water with a lifejacket on the sensation was alien. Unlike the pool noodle; which you had to hold onto, the life jacket was strapped securely around my torso. I didn’t have to worry about hanging onto it. The sensation of being wrapped in the jacket was comforting in a way that a regular floaty just wasn’t. The collar supporting my head meant I could just lay back. The strap between my legs, though tight, wasn’t uncomfortable, and it kept the jacket down on my shoulders, knowing I couldn’t slide out of the jacket with the straps all done up was strangely reassuring, it was almost like being swaddled. The experience was somewhat captivating, I could relax, let my arms and legs go limp, and not sink. I lay there like that for a moment, finding it to be very relaxing. My head fell back, resting on the lifejackets previously annoying collar . The strap between my legs was still giving me a wedgie but it wasn't so bad in the water, still I found myself shifting back and forth slightly, trying to get more comfortable.

“You ok!?”

I sat up quickly, realizing I had been laying three for more than a moment, and turned to face Jamie who was looking at me from a short distance away with some concern. I felt like I had gone pink but managed a thumbs up. Jamie returned the gesture as best they could. They seemed to be fighting with their own life jacket which was riding up around their head.

Looking over at the shore I noticed that it was moving, there was indeed a current here, a pretty strong one too from the speed at which we were being pulled along. It reminded me of the lazy river I was floating around in at a hotel once, years ago. It was very relaxing. The strap between my legs wasn’t as uncomfortable in the water but it was harder to ignore, the lifejacket was actively pulling up on me to keep me at the surface, which meant that strap was constantly riding up. I tried to alleviate it by treading water but all that did was slightly reduce the amount of pressure on that strap and it required a constant, unnecessary, exertion. After a moment or two of swimming and treading water I gave up and sank back into the jacket, allowing it to take over completely again. I knew the water was too deep to reach the bottom but for some reason I reached down with my foot, searching for something solid to stand on; no such luck. The water here was deep and the life jacket was going to continue to do the job of supporting me. Somehow the realization that the water was too deep to stand and that the jacket was the only thing supporting me was exciting. It made the jacket’s embrace feel deeper and found myself clutching the shoulders of the vest.

Hearing a yell from Emma I glanced up just in time to see her reach the narrows and disappear down the river. Mike followed a moment later, disappearing down the narrows. Steph was still closer to us floating on her back. I tried to kick hard to get higher in the water to see what was ahead but had very little success. I could tell that the current was picking up dramatically. The shore was now moving past at a faster and faster pace. I decided to try swimming out away from shore towards Steph and Jamie. As I tried to roll onto my stomach I discovered why Steph had rolled onto her back again so quickly. The jacket really didn't want me on my chest, it fought constantly to roll me over and I was spending almost as much energy staying on my stomach as I was moving forward. After a moment or two I gave up and let the Life Jacket roll me back onto my back, resting my head on the collar and letting my legs hang limp again. Glancing to my right I could see Jamie still struggling with their own lifejacket. It seemed to be riding up over their head and had to be constantly pulled back down again. I had to say the strap between my legs might be a constant presence but at least you could just accept it and choose to more or less ignore it. It honestly wasn’t uncomfortable, it wasn't pressing up hard enough to be causing pain or discomfort it was just awkward. Although; with Emma and Mike gone down river, Jami preoccupied with not drowning and Steph, looking over at her again she seemed to be just floating, maybe swimming a little but in her own world anyway. The strap really wasn’t so awkward without people to worry about.

Without the sense of embarrassment that I had been dealing with all day, I had to admit, floating in the kiddy jacket was really quite comfortable. I continued to just lay back and relax. I let my legs hang more or less limp, just kicking slowly without trying to actually swim. I kept my arms wrapped around my torso, holding the jacket. I lay my head back on the collar and closed my eyes. Twisting and squirming but slowly and comfortably; enjoying myself. Slowly I found myself squirming a bit more aggressively, twisting in the water and reaching my legs out as though searching through the water for something. With a start I suddenly realized I was getting turned on. The strap between my legs was definitely not uncomfortable now. Embarrassed I opened my eyes to look around making sure I wasn’t being watched. I was just in time to see Steph, drifting on her back still, reach the narrows. She was swept away with a startled yelp. Jamie’s back was to me and they were still fully concerned with their own jacket. For very different reasons. I was sort of sitting up in the water now but still moving my hips around. Rubbing on the crotch strap. I was embarrassed, but now I was also turned on. I could hear the roar of the narrows now as we approached. Reaching down under the water with my hand I felt along the base of the jacket until I felt the plastic buckle at the top of the crotch strap. It was pulling down on the jacket, putting tension on the fabric. The strap connected to it was taught and ran down from the buckle, between my legs, and up to the back of the jacket. Reaching around behind me with my other hand I felt the other end of the strap where it was sewn to the jacket. Just as taught as the front. Clutching both ends of the strap I was now actively humping it and past the point of caring. I watched as Jamie managed to get their jacket pulled down in place just in time to be pulled down the narrows. The shore was moving past very quickly now as I was dragged toward the mouth of what was very obviously a set of rapids. I let go of the crotch strap as I was pulled over a large crest of water. I grabbed the shoulders of my life jacket again as the current carried me swiftly down into the rocky gully. The walls towered overhead and left just a narrow slice of sky. The water was deep and there were no rocks to break up the river. The ride was rough as the river went around bends and up over crests. I was pulled this way and that and tried to keep myself facing downstream. Several times the crests of water were large enough that I was plunged underwater as I hit them. But the jacket quickly pulled me back to the surface. With the constant tugging of the waves and current pulling me around the strap between my legs was driving me crazy without any effort on my part. I tried to kick and swim to get myself stabilized in the water but it was definitely the jacket that was keeping me on the surface. Suddenly I was passing through a narrow spot and falling several feet down though open space into another pool. As I crashed through the surface my jacket pulled sharply up, I climaxed underwater, I opened my mouth and let out a silent gasp. Breaking the surface and floating on my back a moment later I gulped fresh air and lay there for several minutes, calming down. Head resting on the collar, legs hanging limp. The jacket was supremely comfortable now. Rolling up off my back was like getting out of bed in the morning. Looking around I could see that we weren't quite back to where we started. Jamie was floating way ahead, not facing me and far enough away that I was confident I hadn’t been observed. The current was still pulling us along but slowly now. I managed to get balanced on my stomach after a little trial and error and started to slowly frog kick. Catching up to the others slowly.