Goofing Around

 Hannah had the yellow strap she had used to pull me back in, in hand.  I was sitting on the seat as the boat bobbed about in irons, dripping wet from my unexpected swim. 

“This is called a teather.” She stopped for a moment to clarify. “It’s not actually a kid thing. I use this one when racing.”  She stopped and gestured at her own life jacket “It doesn't work with this lifejacket, it doesn’t have a connector for it.  Mostly just racing and offshore jackets have them. I have a different life jacket for when I race. But your lifejacket is offshore and does have a connector for it. So we can clip you in.  That way you don't get thrown so far from the boat, or get left behind if you fall out. Your lifejacket seems to keep you afloat just fine but this will keep you from ending up stranded in the middle of the lake.”

I didn’t hate the idea of that honestly, looking down at the front of my life jacket I didn't see where it would connect to, Hannah seemed to sense my question. 

“Ok ya that part is a kid thing, it’s actually on the back of your jacket.” Hannah moved beside me, I felt her pull on the back of the jacket and a moment later I heard a heavy metal click as she connected the strap to my life jacket. “There ya go. It’s actually a lot safer to have it clipped at the back, that way if you get dragged you get dragged backwards not forwards.  It’s actually possible to drown getting dragged forwards, not on a boat like this but like on big boats.  Downside is you can't really reach it yourself though, so most adult life jackets put it on the front.” 

Hanna stepped back, the remaining end of the tether in her hand still. I tried to look over my shoulder to see how she had attached it, but was completely unable to with the large collar.  Reaching back and feeling around for it I came up short again, it seemed to be connected to that spot in the small of your back that you can never quite reach. 

Hannah watched me fuss about for a minute or two, clearly amused. “Ya I think they put it there so kids can’t unclip themselves.” She seemed to be enjoying the state of affairs. I’d had good luck so far with jokes at my own expense so rolled with it.

“While that’s probably for the best then, I’m basically a child anyway.”

Hannah grinned, signalling my success with another joke. 

“That’s ok, I know how to take care of children.”

The way she said it made my knees weak. She crouched down and there was a loud metallic snap as Hannah clipped the other end of my tether to a ring on the floor.

“There. Now you can’t run away”

I nearly fainted. 

Hannah smiled. “Let’s get going again, the water will run out once we are moving. Are you getting hungry by the way? I bought sandwiches but we need to run back to the dock to get them.

“Sure that sounds great!” I hadn’t realised how hungry I was until she mentioned it.

It was a warm day and I was comfortable despite the breeze and being soaking wet, but it was still nice to have a little extra warmth from the lifejacket.  Hannah was taking us back to the dock which was mostly downwind of us. The boat didn't seem to move nearly so fast downwind as it did up which surprised me. It also didn’t rise up to one side so we were sitting on opposite sides of the boat from each other again.

Hannah was driving casually, looking very cool, she looked across at me and smiled.

“Thanks again for being such a good sport about the lifejacket by the way, a lot of people would have too much ego to even give it a try”

I shrugged, overjoyed by the compliment but trying not to show it.

“No problem, I’m glad we did this. It's a lot of fun, way outside my comfort zone, but fun.”  I’d meant that to be all but opened my mouth again. “It’s really not bad, the lifejacket I mean, like it's actually pretty comfortable, especially in the water.” 

Hannah grinned, what looked like almost a knowing grin. “Maybe we’ll have to get you strapped into it again some time.”

“Sure—” I answered before even thinking. Cutting myself off as I realised how weird that was.  But Hannah was still looking at where we were going, smiling openly now. She glanced at me before responding. 

“I totally remember how that jacket felt in the water, super safe and cosy.  — In all honesty I’m a tiny bit jealous of you that you actually fit into it.” 

The dock was fast approaching and Hannah seemed to switch her focus from our conversation to the task of docking the sailboat. For a moment I was sure we were going to drive straight into it but then at the last moment Hannah spun the boat around hard and quickly undid the ropes that held the sail tight.  The boat spun around and drifted slowly to stop alongside the dock.  I let my face betray how impressed I was and Hannah gave me a little bow.  

“Here” Hannah tossed me a rope. “Hop out and tie us off.” I took the rope and clambered awkwardly onto the dock. The strap between my legs reminded me of its presence as I crawled up out of the boat. I wrapped the rope around the tie off on the dock a few times in each direction hoping that was satisfactory. Hannah was still in the boat, fussing with the ropes and tiller. I started moving down the dock, figuring I’d wait for her on the grass. I nearly fell backwards as I suddenly came to the end of the teather. It was like I had just walked straight into a wall. One second I was walking normally and the next the jacket just stopped me dead. I stumbled backwards a few steps. Then stepped into open space, then toppled over backwards into the water.

It wasn’t as dramatic as when the boat flipped. I just fell backwards and landed with a splash, but there was still a moment of panic as I fell unexpectedly.  This time though the lifejacket had me floating on the surface before I had even fully realised what was happening. 

“Are you OK?!” There was genuine concern in Hannas voice. I couldn’t see her as she was behind me, I just raised my hand and gave her a thumbs up. It was met with immediate laughter. 

I was actually not upset about being in the water again, the first time I had been so distracted by panic and gotten out just as I was starting to relax and enjoy it.  So I didnt move to climb out right away, instead taking a moment to just float there as Hannah got it out of her system. It was really incredible how different the lifejacket felt in the water compared to on land. I really was like being held. I reached down with my foot and was surprised when I didn’t feel the bottom.  I was only a few feet from the rocky shore bank. Suddenly I felt a tug, and I was moving through the water, away from shore, back toward the boat.  I realised that Hannah must be pulling me in and tried to turn around to get a look at her but struggled to do so, I couldn’t turn my head with the bulky collar and I couldn’t rotate my body as I was being pulled along from behind. Then I was suddenly moving away from the dock and along the side of the boat, I twisted hard and managed to rotate enough to see Hannah, tether in hand, walking along the side of the boat pulling me with her.  She gave the tether a tug spinning me back around again, losing sight of her. I thought she was going to haul me in but instead she kept walking, hopping to the dock and taking me on a little ride all the way around the end of the dock.  I just allowed her to pull me along, enjoying the feeling of floating in the lifejacket.  I reached out with my legs again, knowing full well I would find nothing down at the end of the dock, when there had been nothing near shore. The lack of physical purchase made the sensation of being held by the jacket more visceral, it was strange, cosy somehow. I felt the tugging ease off and a moment later Hannah reappeared in my view, standing on the edge of the dock above me holding the end of my tether. 

“You look relaxed.” 

I nodded. “It’s weird, I’m normally super nervous in deep water.” 

She smiled. “Ya, but you’ve got the super safe. But I’m hungry, let's get you back up, we can float around a bit more later” 

I lost sight of Hannah again briefly as she pulled the teather causing me to spin away from her, I was pulled over a few feet towards her and then she appeared upside down directly above me, hanging over the edge, as I bumped into the dock. 

“Ok up we come” Hannah grabbed the loop on the front of my lifejacket and proceeded to bob me a few times up and down in the water, using the life jackets float to get some momentum.  Then I was hauled up and clear of the water and plopped down on my back on the down, my knees bent over the side. I lay there for a moment catching my breath, then struggled up into a sitting position.  Pulling the jacket back down as it had ridden up a bit. 

“You good?” Hannah asked happily. 

“Yup” I nodded and managed to get to my feet, water pouring from the jacket as I did. 

“Good, come along.” Hannah practically skipped away, end of the tether still in her hand, she gave it a pull, yanking on my lifejacket and forcing me to move forward a few steps faster than I had been.

“Whow I ain’t no dog.” I was teasing 

Hannah looked back and shrugged. “Welllll you can’t get that tether off anymore than a kid can, soooo I think that means you, like a kid, have to do what I say.” She was still walking and gave the tether another tug. 

“I could definitely get that off if I wanted” I thought she was being a little silly. 

“Doubt it.”  Hannah turned to face me and stopped walking, allowing me to get some slack in the line.  Despite my first attempt I was pretty confident I could reach the clip.  

I tried reaching around under my armpit first but the clip was too high, I bent my arm back hard, straining to reach and just brushed the very edge of the clip. But the clip being so high meant I should be able to reach the other way. I then tried to go over my shoulder but immediately realised the problem, the wide and thick collar around my neck protruded back nearly a foot. I could barely reach the underside of the collar with tips of my fingers, let alone the clip on the small of my back. I tied under arm again, and realised suddenly that she might not be wrong.  Feeling like the foam collar couldn’t possibly really stop me I tired over my shoulder again, this time grabbing the collar and trying to squish it in towards me, I managed to get my wrist over the edge of the collar but was still miles off. I glanced at Hannah, she was grinning ear to ear with her arms crossed over her chest, the end of tether in hand. 

I stated the obvious at this point. “Well I could just take the life jacket off and remove it that way if I really wanted to”

Sailing Date - Part 3

Hannah’s eyes narrowed. “Ow you better not even think about it buster” she was teasing but it also seemed like a challenge.

I moved my hand slowly towards the waist strap buckle. 

Hannah cocked her head. “I will lock that thing onto you.”

I laughed. “With what?” 

“Ow I’ve got locks, my sister is an angel but I was a little gremlin, and an escape artist.” 

I just raised an eyebrow.

“Ow ya, for years there I refused to keep it on. My dad eventually got buckle locks for the thing so I couldn’t take it off when they weren’t looking.  That’s why it has those annoying buckles on the crotch straps where you can’t adjust them without taking them off. Because I kept making everything loose.”

I was sceptical “I’m not so sure the buckle locks that work on 10 year old you would work on an adult” 

“Ow, you Wanna try?” Hannah seemed to all of a sudden think this sounded like a fun game. “Don’t forget I told you I was strapped into that thing until I was fourteen”

Without another word Hannah was moving, quickly, towards the shed. The tether went taught and I had to take a few jogging steps to avoid getting yanked again.  Hannah was through the door and into the shed without a pause.

Upgrades

Sailing Date - PART 4

There were three objects in Hannah's hands as she  emerged a few moments later,  two were small black rectangles with a circle in the centre that had two holes in it. The other looked more like a heavy duty zip tie. 

“This will be fun.” Hannah seemed to have assumed my consent for this little experiment. 

She dropped to her knees on the grass in front of me, putting her head level with my stomach.  Then she reached up and undid the first of the two straps between my legs, letting it fall loose and dangle. 

I immediately pulled at my bathing suit. I hadn’t noticed the wedgie this time until the strap had been undone, but it had been tight enough that my bathing suit was all bunched up and stuck in my but. I was past any pretence of hiding this from Hannah at this point.  

Hannah put some sort of stick into the holes in one of the black rectangles and twisted it like a key, the plastic device opened up like a suitcase.  She positioned it behind the female buckle of the now undone crotch strap, so that the buckle was inside the open case. I shifted my knees apart as Hannah reached casually between them to retrieve the dangling strap. My bathing suite was bunched up again instantly as Hannah pulled the crotch strap back into position and snapped it back into the buckle.  Then she snapped the plastic case closed, sealing the buckle for the crotch strap inside of it,  and seemed to lock it again with the “key”.  She gave the whole thing a bit of a shake and a couple good tugs, ensuring it was secure.  Yanking on the strap between my legs in the process.  I grabbed at the strap from behind my back trying to manage the wedgie. If Hannah noticed she didn’t show it.  She was busy repeating the process on the second crotch strap.  Again I went to fix my bathing suite as the crotch strap fell loose, pulling it down with my free hand, despite the fact that it was about to be all bunched up again anyway.  

As Hannah got the second buckle guard positioned behind the remaining crotch strap I was suddenly surprised to find myself kinda looking forward to her doing it back up. The straps were still tight and a little annoying, particularly in how they bunched up my bathing suite, but now I also associated them with the safe cosiness I had felt in the water.  

Hannah grabbed the second strap but it must have been twisted again, she rotated it a couple times in hand, then leaned down a bit looking between my legs as I stood there rather awkwardly.  Hannah reached through my legs again and grabbed the strap near the top and ran her hand down the length of it to get it straight. Happy with it she moved to secure it. I felt my bathing suit bunching again as the strap was pulled tight. This time it somehow caught a bit more of my suite and I had a wad of material under the strap.  I leaned over slightly grabbing the leg of my suit, trying to pull that free as Hannah held the strap tight in hand.  Hannah noticed and lowered the strap slightly, she had the buckle guard and female buckle in her left hand and the crotch strap in her right. She transferred the strap to her left hand, kinda holding everything with it clumsily and used her free hand to grab the bottom of my suit and help pull it down.

“That’s kinda annoying, never had that problem before, my sister and I never wore baggy trunks.”

“Ya honestly that’s the most annoying part of it, it’s not that bad otherwise.  The leg straps I mean.” The collar was the other thing that continued to be a noticeable annoyance. 

Hannah had the left side of my suit fixed but was now pulling down on the right leg trying to fix that one as well. She paused for a moment, and looked up at me. 

“Actually, I have a pair of Jammers here.  They’re like athletic pants.  Stretchy.  They would fit you.”

I wasn’t super interested in that but Hannah was already walking away towards her car. She shuffled around for a moment in the back  and then was jogging back over, a bright purple fabric item in hand.  

“It’s purple, sorry, good thing you aren’t put off by stuff like that.” 

I didn’t particularly fancy changing into Hannah’s bathing suit, but she wasn’t really asking, just assuming I was ok with it. To be fair I had just said the bunching up of my baggy swimsuit was the worst part about the whole ordeal.  

“Here let me get the other strap for you.” Hannah bent down and unlocked and then unclipped the right crotch strap. Letting it fall loose she handed me the purple item.

It was almost slippery. It was so smooth, maybe spandex or latex or something, super stretchy. I just held it in my hand for a moment unsure what to do.

“I’ll hold your lifejacket for you but I won’t look, promise” Hannah moved to stand beside me facing the opposite direction. I felt her grab the loop on the back of my jacket.  She made a point of looking off into the distance. 

Looking back at the bright purple bundle I shook it out, it was stretchy but it looked tinny. Pulling on it it easily stretched to twice its size tho. The swimsuit getting bunched up -was- really the most annoying bit of the lifejacket.  Feeling extraordinarily uncomfortable I undid the tie at the top of my trunks, by touch; I couldn’t see it with all the foam on my chest, and started to remove them.  Glancing at Hannah confirmed she was still starting into the distance.  As I bent over to pull my suit off my feet Hannah tightened her grip on my jacket, she had to rotate her torso to face me but kept looking off over her shoulder.  Kicking my own swimsuit off I quickly pulled the slippery purple over my right foot and the sensation was very strange. It was tighter than I expected but it did stretch. I got my other foot in, a bit wobbly and thankful for the support from Hannah.  I straightened up as I pulled the “Jammers” up over my legs. I had to squirm a bit to get them up over my hips but they did indeed fit.  They were thicker than I first expected, a bit padded almost.  And they were very tight, I felt them pressing in around my thighs and stomach. 

“All good?”

“Ah ya, I managed” Not at all pleased or comfortable with how revealing they were. 

Hannah spun around.

“Hey ya those fit you! Not your style I know but they don’t look bad on you.” 

“I’ll take your word for it” I managed an awkward smile.

“I think they will be more comfortable” 

Hannah plopped herself back down in front of me, not wasting any time. 

“Ok let's try this again.”

She reached around my leg this time, grabbing both straps at the top and running her hand down to remove twists. Then passed them to her other hand through my legs. This time no fabric got bunched up as she pulled them up.  I felt the strap press into me more suddenly without all the fabric in the way. But Hannah stopped. 

“Agh, hang on I gotta adjust them a bit again now, they’re a bit looser without all that fabric.”

I didn't protest, at this point I was consigned to my lot, and to be honest I didn't mind the straps so much anymore.

Hannah bent over and fussed over the straps a moment or two, then straightened up with them still in hand. 

“Ok” she scooped up the first of the two open buckle guards off the ground.  I guess we didn't forget about that whole thing. 

She got the guard lined up on the female buckle with one hand, then brought up the strap. Prior to adjusting them she hadn’t pulled the strap up all the way  I don't think, or she tightened it a lot. The sensation was completely different with the new pants. WIth my trunks I had felt all the fabric bunching up and then eventually a bit of a wedgie, I realised I never really felt the actual strap pressing into me, just my swimsuit.  The skin tight thing I was wearing now was totally different.  I felt the full length of the strap press up into me all at once, and without any warning.  I could practically feel the texture of the strap. The sudden pressure, and the sensation of texture that I could feel made me jump back involuntarily. Causing Hanna to miss the buckle.

“Hold still you!” Her tone was teasing but I felt her secure her grip on the female buckle, pulling on it as tho to hold me still.

She pulled the strap up a second time, this time more quickly, and she got it buckled in with a snap. The strap pulled back up into me all at once, I nearly jumped again but managed to just squirm in place a bit, partly thanks to Hannah’s now firm hold on the jacket.  A second click signalled the buckle guard snapping into place over the buckle of the first crotch strap. 

Hannah must have dropped the second strap at some point, maybe when I jumped back, she was reaching through my legs, getting the twists out of it. I squatted slightly and tried to spread my thighs a little.  As I shifted I felt the already secured crotch strap slide over the tight material of Hannahs jammers. My hand went to the buckle and pulled down trying to get some slack but even leaning forward slightly I could still feel the strap there. 

I examined the plastic guard on the already secured buckle. It didn’t feel that heavy duty, but there was no clear way to open it aside from the little “keyhole" in the front. I tried squeezing it at about the spot where the buckle release would be. Unsurprisingly nothing happened. 

“Won't be that easy” Hannah teased.  She was on one knee in front of me, the loose end of the second crotch strap in her hand.  The other end disappeared between my legs.  

Dropping her other knee and sitting up so she was standing on her knees Hannah grabbed the remaining female buckle and brought the crotch strap up, this time slowly, almost like she was teasing me on purpose. 

As I felt the strap pull up into me I shifted and tried to pull back, but Hannah was holding the buckle securely and I ended up just shifting my position around. A bit like I was doing a hula hoop. The squirming caused the existing crotch strap to slide over the tight shorts. 

There was a loud snap and the second strap pressed up into me as Hannah secured the second buckle.  She didn't say anything but was grinning ear to ear as she worked the second buckle guard around it. 

As the strap was pulled tight I tried to shift my hips to pull away from it, but discovered this only made the strap on the other side tighter. There was no pulling away from both at the same time, aside from bending over at the waste. 

“Ok, you” Hannah was still holding the second crotch strap, using it to pull herself to her feet.  “One more” The large zip tie looking thing was in her free hand now.  I expected her to use it to secure the two metal rectangles on the chest strap together.  

Hannah was standing in front of me now but still holding the second crotch strap buckle, she gave the strap a few gentle pulls before letting go. “You’re almost all secure” 

To my surprise instead of moving to secure the zip tie thing around the front buckle she moved around to my side. Connecting the zip tie to something under my arm. I couldn’t see what she was doing but the chest strap suddenly went loose and I realised she was attaching it to the bit of the jacket that tightens the chest strap.  A moment later she put a hand on my shoulder and pulled, the chest strap cinching up tight around me again, I think a fair bit tighter than it had been before. I heard the zip tie pulled tight and she stepped back. 

“There ya go.  Let’s see it.”  Having already inspected the buckle guards on the crotch straps I turned my attention to the strap around my waist, Hannah hadn’t locked the two metal rectangles that joined that strap together, so hypothetically they could come apart.  That idea went out the window as soon as I touched the strap.  She had definitely pulled it a lot tighter. It was pressed into the foam of the jacket firmly, I couldn’t even get my fingers under the strap.  Let along turn the metal rectangle sideways to pass it through the other. I pulled at the strap feeling kinda foolish.

Hannah giggled.

“Is that all you’ve got?”

Unsure what to say I just twisted a bit at the waist trying to put on a show of trying.

“Ok.  How about this? If you can get out of that life jacket, I’ll owe you a kiss.”  She smirked, then looked up at a tree branch above us and down to tether laying on the ground. Retrieving the end of my ‘leash’ she walked out away from the trunk of the tree, reaching up to a point that she could only just reach and wrapped the loose end of my tether to it, connecting it to itself. “Stay here, I’ll get the sandwiches” 

Needless to say as she walked away I started to test my situation in earnest.

Stuck

Sailing Date PART 5

With the strap around my waist obviously too tight to get undone I tried for the first time to find the tightener under my arm. I could barely reach my right armpit with my left hand with all the tick foam over my chest. I could tell by touch there there was a setup similar to how the chest strap connected together, a pair of metal rectangles.  And there was the end of a strap hanging loose, that must have been what Hannah had pulled through to tighten it down around me.  But pull and press as I could. I could not get a single inch of strap to pull loose. I twisted in frustration. My twisting caused the straps between my legs to rub over the tight fabric pants Hannah had lent me.  I stopped and bent over to try and loosen those straps and get some relief.  But as I started to squat and bend at the waist my lifejacket suddenly came up short. The teather clipped to the back of it tight between the jacket and the tree branch above me.  I was only able to bend over a small amount. The straps between my legs were still pressing into me. As I straightened up again I felt the straps sliding over the lycra pants as they pulled up tighter into my groin.  The new pants didn't get bunched up the way my trunks did, but they also provided no insulation from the straps between my legs. It had been hard to ignore the crotch straps with my old pants, with the new ones it was impossible, though counterintuitively they did remain more comfortable without the fabric bunching up. There was no wedgie now, but in its place was the sensation of pressure and the feeling straps rubbing over me with every movement.

I looked up at the branch above me and reached my arm out. It was at least a foot out of reach.  Hannah’s extra height combined with her longer arms left me woefully short.  Something about the fact that my physical size was the only thing keeping me here made me feel even smaller.  I felt like I was shrinking into the jacket. I went up on my toes and stretched my arm as high as I could but grasped nothing but empty air, and my stretching was pulling one of the crotch straps up into me with each attempt.

Giving up I dropped my arms and I pulled down on both crotch straps with my hands.  Previously I had been able to pull them down to fix my wedgie, but I guess the wedgie had really just been from the bunched up trunks. I didn't have a wedgie to fix this time, the straps were just tight, and as hard as I pulled they remained more or less static. Giving up on pulling them loose my fingers found the plastic buckle guards securing the clips at the top of both straps.  They were smooth and stiff plastic.  I pulled and pressed them until my fingers went numb.   

The realisation that I really was stuck in this lifejacket and couldn’t take it off, without Hannah unlocking it for me, was surprisingly visceral. I couldn’t even sit down.  I tried walking towards the shed and came up tight against the teather after three steps. Pulling on it like a dog on the leash. I grabbed the shoulder of the jacket and twisted and pulled as though I could squirm my way out the head hole. The jacket pressed back  against me, tight over my shoulders and under my arms and between my legs. I bucked three or four times against it. Then slipped and nearly fell the jacket catching my weight as I swung back.  I hung there letting the jacket take my weight for a few minutes.

“Make any progress?” Hannah was walking back towards me, a brown paper bag in hand. She was still grinning. 

I pulled on the shoulder of the jacket as an answer. 

“So much for those buckle guards only holding a 10 year old little girl.  Unless YOU ARE just a ten year old little girl.”  She was enjoying this way too much. “Let me let you down.” Hannah set down the paper bag and walked over to me reaching up on her tiptoes to the tree limb she had connected me to and unclipping the teather. I flopped down on my butt, grateful for the mild relief from the crotch straps.

Hannah smiled down at me “Well I guess I don't need to worry about you squirming out of that now.  Here’s your sandwich.”

She handed me a Sandwich in a plastic ziplock and a can of coke.  We ate in relative silence for a few minutes. 

“How are the jammers? Are they better than your baggy trunks?” 

I wasn’t completely sure how to answer that, they didn’t get bunched up or give me a wedgie, which was nice, but the tight thin material also made the crotch straps…

“Ahh they're… better, I think, they don't get bunch up, but…” I was searching.

“Are they a bit more sensitive?” Hannah was smiling.  I realised I was pulling on one of the straps absentmindedly and stopped.

Hannah moved from her butt to her hands and knees and crawled over to me. 

“I think I know what you mean.” She was practically overtop of me.  

I felt her grab my wrist, the hand that was still holding one of the straps between my legs, and gently pull it away. She placed her other hand on the chest of my life jacket and pushed me backwards.  The straps between my legs went from just barely there, to snug, to tight as she pushed me back until I was laying on my back, my head falling back into the collar, the collar wrapping around my neck and restricting my head.  I bent my legs at the knees, loosening the straps slightly.

“Well you didn’t manage to escape.  But you HAVE been very good.  I suppose you’ve probably earned a kiss anyway.”

I just lay there, half of me in my head; cradled by the collar, feeling powerless under Hannah’s grinning face; the other half on autopilot, slowly squirming, bent knees trying to relieve the pressure of the straps between my legs. 

“Is it ok if I kiss you?” Hannah’s face hanging over me was like a spell.  I managed a nod, She smiled and leaned down.  The kiss was long and deep, her lifejacket pressed into mine, the combined thickness of foam keeping us from getting too close. Part way though I felt her pull on one of the crotch straps. My hips rose trying to compensate but her kiss held me firmly in place. Pressing my head down into the foam collar. 

As she pulled away I tried to follow but a hand on the chest of my life jacket kept me in place. 

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves there sport.” She was smiling though. Then moved her hand from my chest holding it out to help me get to my feet.

“Come-on I promised you another swim in that thing.”

I took Hannahs outstretched hand and got awkwardly to my feet.  The strap between my legs rubbing over the Jammers as I did so. 

Hannah had my tether in one hand and pulled me along by my hand with the other. I followed her quite happily towards the dock, wondering just what she had in mind. 

“Hold on tho we need to get you better situated.” Hannah hopped into the boat and opened a hatch, emerging a moment later with several coils of white rope. She climbed back onto the dock and stood facing me. “So. Have you ever been tied up?”

The question took me aback. 

“N-no..’’ 

“Do you trust me?”

There was really only one way I was going to answer that one. And to be honest, I did, for whatever reason.  Without speaking I nodded. Hannah smiled and approached me with the rope.  The way she walked up to me was somehow different, more confident, sure of herself. I felt like our height difference was suddenly greater than it had been in the past. 

“Good. Put your hands behind your back.”

Something New

EMMA'S BOAT

Part Eight

“Ok” Emma walked up and stopped in the middle of us, between Steph and me. “I think I have a solution here.” She held out the yellow bundle in front of her, presenting the new lifejacket to us.

A few minutes ago I would have said that the children's life jackets Jamie and I were wearing were about the most unusual thing you could find a young adult wearing. The new life jacket in Emma’s hands proved that assumption wrong. The kiddy life jackets were juvenile, made for kids, so it was embarrassing to wear them, but ultimately they were normal jackets you saw all the time, just on kids instead of young adults. The jacket in Emma's hands now wasn’t like anything I had seen before.

It was a bright vibrant yellow, the foam on the front looked to be about twice as thick as the foam on my lifejacket. The collar in particular looked crazy heavy duty. Unlike the collar of my jacket, which was relatively thin and floppy, the new jacket's collar was at least as thick as the heavy foam flotation on the chest of the vest. The collar sat flat across the top of the shoulders, it had a cut out in the middle for your neck and protruded forward on each side; it seemed like it would wrap around the sides of your neck stopping just short of coming around under your chin. Criss crossing the vest were heavy duty looking black straps which contrasted against the bright yellow. The jacket had a heavy strap that ran around the chest; a strap over each of the shoulders, which was lost beneath what looked like a velcro pocket; and, hanging from the back; not one, but two straps for between your legs. It was blue on the inside, had a heavy duty looking zipper, and the strap around the waist closed with some kind of metal contraption instead of a normal buckle.

Steph just stared at the thing. “What-- is that?..”

Emma didn’t pick up on Steph’s tone in the least. “It’s our old Crewsaver SuperSafe, lucky this was in there, it’s a sailing jacket from back when we had our old Beneteau.” Emma seemed almost to have some reverence for the jacket. “Steph you're 140 right?”

Steph shook her head aggressively “No, no i’m 145” She looked hopeful for a moment.

“Right still ok, this one is too small for you it caps out at 110, but” Emma turned and looked dead at me. “You’re 110” It wasn’t a question. “So you can give Steph yours, which will also work for her, and we should be able to squeeze you into this guy” Emma held the new yellow jacket aloft and gave it a shake, causing the buckles to rattle.

My first reaction was to start to step backwards away from Emma. But I was standing near the shore and so only had about a half step behind me before I risked falling back down the muddy bank.

“Ow ya ok” Steph was walking over to me eagerly “I’ll take yours then”

I raised my hands up to hold the shoulders of the vest as tho to hang onto it. As much as I had spent a lot of time today hating the kiddy jacket, I had actually gotten used to it. And learned to enjoy it quite a bit in the water. But I wasn't so sure I was ready for an upgrade.

Steph stood in front of me. Hand outstretched.

Despite my embarrassment, and my desire not to be the one strapped into the new and improved life jacket I had to admit that I was a little curious. Unable to think of any way to escape the situation either way, and also wondering what the new one would be like…, I reached down slowly and unbuckled the waist and crotch straps. The jacket loosened noticeably as they fell away. As I pulled the zipper down, undoing the vest from around my torso, I became aware of how long I had been strapped into it and just how used to its presence I had become. A moment later I was attempting to shrug off the vest, having difficulty getting it off my shoulders due to it’s small size. Steph walked over and I turned, allowing her to pull it down off my arms and take possession of the lifejacket. I felt surprisingly sad watching her carry it off.

Standing on the shore, now without a lifejacket for the first time that day, I was surprised at how loose and exposed I felt. The sensation reminded me of taking off a pair of skis. I felt free in a sense but I also felt vulnerable. Looking over at the nearby water I was strangely aware of the fact that If I fell in I would need to swim actively to avoid sinking down into it. I had enjoyed being able to just float in the water. I realized that I was actually missing the jacket. Shifting my attention to Steph I saw that she was succeeding, just barely, in keeping Emma at arms length. Steph had the vest on and zipped up and was in the process of tightening the waist belt as Emma hovered around her. Steph was clearly trying to make a show of doing everything up sufficiently to keep Emma off her. Jamie and Mike were chatting among themselves now. Jamie was still absentmindedly pulling at their own new life jacket. Halfway between Emma, Steph and me was the so-called “SuperSafe” as apt a name as any, laying on the ground. Now curious what exactly I was in for I walked over and retrieved it.

Holding the jacket up I got a better look at it. The first thing I noticed was how heavy it was, it felt about as heavy dry as the kiddy one had felt when soaked with water. Squeezing the foam in my hands I was surprised by how soft and dense it was, it was just as thick as it looked, easily twice as much as the jacket I had given up, probably more than that. The foam chest panels were massive, they felt like they must be nearly five inches thick. But the real difference was the collar; it was different from the kiddy vest in two obvious ways: one, it was almost as thick as the foam on the chest, at least four inches thick, the collar on the kiddy jacket had been a thin floppy thing by comparison; and two, it looked like I had seen correctly that it protruded out past where your neck would go. Where the kiddy jacket’s collar sat behind your head, this one had a cut out so that it could wrap around the sides of your neck. The waist belt was a heavy webbing, much more substantial than you would expect to find on a lifejacket and about two inches wide. I wasn't sure how the metal bit at the front went together. The crotch straps hanging from the back were the same high quality webbing but were only an inch wide, they ended in plastic buckles. There were two female buckles in the front, connected to the waist strap with short webbing loops.

I turned the jacket around to have a look at the back. The back panel itself was a thin but really dense foam, it held its shape firmly, again unlike the last jacket which had a foam block at the top and then just loose fabric below. The waist belt passed around and through a sleeve on the back, the crotch straps ran up to this sleeve and were presumably sewn to the waist belt, there was another heavy two inch strap that ran up from this junction before splitting into two straps again, just below the collar. Those two ran over the shoulders of the vest forming a big Y. At the center of the Y there was a big stainless steel D-ring which rattled about as I turned the vest. Flipping the jacket over again I could see the other end of those shoulder straps connecting to the waist belt in the front; but for most of the chest they disappeared under some kind of velcro pocket .

I was distracted by Steph yelling.

“Ahh Emma!” I looked over just in time to see Emma giving Steph a good once over. Yanking on her jacket and pulling on the straps.

Deciding I would, like Steph, rather put the jacket on myself, and also honestly a little curious what the new one would be like, I decided to try on my new flotation aid.

Putting my left hand through the first arm hole I held the jacket out at arm's length behind me and reached around with my right arm for the other hole. I was able to find the second hole after just a moment and, with some squirming, was able to get the jacket just about up to my shoulders. The heavy straps and buckles of this new vest made a lot more noise than the last one as I tried to wriggle the thing on.

Surprisingly, the new lifejacket didn't feel smaller than the kiddy one, if anything it seemed a bit easier to squeeze into. With a bit of squirming I was able to get one arm all the way through the hole, so that the vest came to rest over my shoulder on one side. My other arm was still stuck but now I was able to get a hold of the jacket with my free hand and yank it forward onto my torso, freeing my other arm. The jacket was now wrapped around me, resting on my shoulders. The collar was even thicker than I had judged; it came up to just below my ear and actually made contact with my helmet where it came down to cover my ears. With the vest now partly on it I was getting a better perspective on just how thick the foam on this jacket was, even without the vest done up it felt like I was being cocooned. Looking down for the zipper my view was blocked by the massive foam panels over my chest. I started feeling along the bottom of the jacket for the zipper. As it turned out the zipper didn't go right to the bottom of the vest but started a few inches up, so it was taking me a few minutes to find it. The combination of the huge foam chest panels blocking my downward vision, the thick collar wrapped around my neck and my helmet was making me feel a bit like the Michelin man.

I was still trying to get the two halves connected by touch only as Emma walked over. She hovered in front of me with her hands out to help but I had the two sides of the zipper in hand and wasn’t giving them up. After another moment or two of fiddling with Emma circling like a buzzard I got the zippers connected and pulled the slide up to the top of the vest. The zipper was really heavy duty, it felt like I was zipping up a big duffle bag more than a lifejacket. Even the sound it made was deeper and more rumbly than I expected. The zipper was pretty short so it was only a second and I had suddenly sealed myself into the vest. The front panels were now wrapped around me snugly. Securing the vest also caused the shoulders and back to snug up around me pulling the collar further forward. The collar was now up against the back of my neck and wedged under my plastic helmet, so that I couldn't lean my head back, it was feeling a lot more restrictive than the kiddy jacket already. Emma was still hovering so despite feeling like I wanted a minute to take stock of the situation I quickly felt around for the waist belt, I found this faster than I had the zipper, despite it still being hidden from sight. My fingers found the metal bits at the end of the waist belt. I immediately wished I had given them a better look before putting the jacket on, I hadn’t been counting on the vest blocking my line of sight or restricting the movement of my head like this. I felt the metal buckle with my fingers trying to visualize them and picture in my head how they would go together.

To Emma’s credit she did give me a minute before speaking up.

“You got that or do you need some help?”

The metal bits both felt the same, they just felt like metal rectangles, which was in line with what I thought they had looked like. I had no idea how they were supposed to clip together.

“Do these clip somehow?” I was hoping for a verbal answer, no such luck.

Emma just stepped forward, taking the clips out of my hands.

“Here, let me”

She fiddled with them for a second, then reached way around to my right hand side, practically behind me.

“You need some more slack” I felt her tug on the vest and heard some webbing pulling through a tensioner. Emma returned to the bucked and I heard metal rattle on metal. Then, to my surprise, she actually stepped back. Feeling the waist belt again the metal rectangles were connected, now I understood, she had passed one through the other so the belt would pull them tight against each other. The belt was hanging loose so I started feeling around for the tightener, Emma had pulled the slack from way around on my right hand side. I was reaching around, following the strap around my torso to find the ajuster. Between the collar and the helmet I was, once again, unable to see and wishing I had paid more attention before putting it on. I found what felt like it had to be the adjustment point but it was in a very awkward position under my armpit. I was focused on trying to get a hold of the loose end with my arm sort of bent awkwardly backwards and was startled when Emma moved in on me again, apparently having come to the decision that I was still in need of help after all.

She brushed my awkwardly bent arm out of her way and I was jerked around as she yanked unexpectedly on the strap. In response Emma put her free hand on my shoulder to stabilize me as she pulled hard a second time. I felt the waist belt pull up tightly around me, squeezing the jacket against my torso. 

The foam of this vest felt distinctly different from the last one, it was somehow both denser and softer, it seemed to conform to my torso more than the kiddy vest had, the dense foam back panel was also a really noticeable difference. 

With a couple more tugs for good measure Emma seemed satisfied and couched down, disappearing from my field of view beneath the horizon of the chest panels, presumably going for the pair of straps between my legs. I immediately reached behind me, searching for the two crotch straps hanging there and I took a half step back for good measure. 

 I was still stepping back as my fingers found the end of the loose hanging crotch straps and grabbed them. For a second I thought I had beat her to it, but then the straps were no longer hanging loose, they were pressing my fingers into my back as Emma grabbed the loose ends and pulled them through my legs. I briefly considered trying to hang onto them but quickly gave up as the top of Emma’s head reappeared in my vision. 

 I pulled my fingers out from between the straps and my lower back and stood there awkwardly unsure what to do with my hands. I found myself running them along the lower back part of the jacket, the foam back really was quite dense. 

Still feeling awkward I tried looking off to my right at the boats but the collar really did restrict my ability to rotate my head. Especially with the helmet taking up any room that would have been available between it and my head. I couldn't look off to my left or right without tilting my head back to get my chin over the foam, but the back of the helmet was in contact with the collar so I couldn’t really tilt my head up. 

I would have to rotate my torso a bit to look around properly. But couldn't do that at the moment with Emma fussing over the jacket. There was a loud click as the first crotch strap was connected, followed by a second a moment later.  For a moment I was surprised at how loose the straps were, but half a moment later I felt one of the crotch straps pull up tightly as Emma snugged it up. The strap tightening after it had been buckled took me off guard, with the last jacket the length had to be set before the straps were buckled, a loud grunt escaped my mouth as it suddenly pulled up tight. Looking around I saw Steph smirking at me, arms folded and clearly enjoying the show. It would have been a more convincing look if she wasn't still tightly strapped into the purple and yellow kiddy jacket with a bright orange helmet. I managed to refrain from grunting a second time as Emma tightened up the second crotch strap. Were two straps between my legs really necessary?

Emma got to her feet and took hold of my now tightly secured lifejacket, giving it a shake for good measure. I endured about thirty seconds of tussling before she was finally satisfied. Despite the awkwardness and embarrassment I really couldn't help but feel a little excited to try this jacket out in the water.

Musical Lifejacket's

EMMA'S BOAT

Part Seven

Mike was trying to wipe the mud off his legs. “Well we better do one more at least, if just to get clean, then climb out on the boats maybe?”

Jamie nodded “Ya ok, I might ditch this jacket tho It’s a real pain in the ass to swim with it on”

Emma chirped up at that. “Ya I bet it’s like three sizes too big for you.” Jamie was stripping the lifejacket off. “Ahhh I wouldn’t do that if I were you, god forbid you do hit a rock you'd go under in a second and we wouldn't be able to do shit.”

Jamie already had the jacket off, but stopped and looked at Emma. “I mean you're not wrong, but I can’t swim for crap with this thing over my head and I’m not sure it would do much to help anyway to be honest”

“Probably some truth to that” Emma clearly didn't think much of the oversized jacket. With a look of distaste Jamie tossed the discarded jacket to the ground in the middle of the circle.

Surprisingly it was Mike who spoke up further. “Ya... I’d listen to her. I know you can swim and everything but you don't want to take a hit right before those rapids without backup. It might not be great but definitely better than nothing” Jamie looked torn.

“I’ll trade with you” That was Steph jokingly.

But Jamie didn't seem to take it as a joke. “I would honestly probably take the kiddy one over this.”

Steph wasted no time, taking this as a verbal agreement she popped up to her feet and started unbuckling her jacket. Emma frowned but said nothing for the moment. Jamie looked skeptical but didn't move to reclaim their discarded jacket. With the jacket undone Steph started pulling it off and got stuck part way. Emma was standing next to her, she hesitated a moment before stepping over to help, pulling the jacket the rest of the way over her arms. With a look of obvious uncertainty Emma walked over to Jamie and held the jacket out. Jamie seemed surprised to see it actually offered up and didn't react right away, instead looking over at Mike who just shrugged.

“Hey, you asked for it, now it’s yours” That was Steph, who had snatched the larger jacket from the ground and was slipping it on.

Emma was still holding the jacket out in front of Jamie, who hesitated just a moment longer before making a decision. Turning back to Emma, Jamie reached out and accepted the smaller jacket from her, holding it out to look at it. The jacket was muddy and dripping wet, the collar and straps hung from it limply.

“Jeez, … ok” Jamie began by putting one arm through the vest all the way and then tried to reach around for the second hole. The jacket was much too small and it was clear Jamie wouldn’t get their other arm through. Emma, unsurprisingly, walked around to help from behind.

“Here...” Emma took hold of the jacket, sliding it halfway down Jamie’s arm so that it was over their right elbow. “Give me your arm”

Jamie was busy trying to turn around to see where the other arm hole was, Emma grabbed Jamie’s forearm and pulled; guiding it through the jacket, Jamie bent and twisted slightly to accomplish the feat of getting both arms bent around far enough to clear both holes and looked like they were having second thoughts about the whole thing. Their arms were pulled back well past the point that they could easily reach, for a moment Jamie was stuck like that with their elbows through the children's life jacket. Emma grabbed the jacket and pulled upward on it, sliding it up over their arms and onto their shoulders so that it came to rest around Jamie’s chest, releasing their arms.

“Ya I think this is too small haha” Jamie laughed, trying to slow Emma down. Emma was focused on the jacket though.

“I think it’s actually ok, I’m surprised, I thought it would be” Emma was in front of Jamie again now.

Steph was quick to jump on the bandwagon. “Ya, ya, it looks like you'll squeeze in!” Jamie stepped backwards away from Emma, looking like they would be in the process of sliding the jacket off again if they were able to do so without help. Jamie made no move to try and do the jacket up instead looking around awkwardly, aware that trying to get the jacket off by themself would only succeed in getting them stuck. Jamie glanced first at Mike who just shrugged and then at me. I just smiled, enjoying the show.

Emma seemed to take no notice of Jamie’s body language and stepped forward taking Jamie's lack of initiative as a sign to continue doing up the vest for them. I was barely able to avoid laughing as Jamie jumped, startled as Emma grabbed the front of the jacket. It looked like she had to pull hard to get the panels connected, giving the jacket a good tug. But she got the zipper connected and done up in one fluid motion, sliding the fly quickly to the top of the vest. Jamie grabbed the shoulder of the vest and pulled awkwardly, trying to step backwards away from her again but Emma was holding onto the chest strap, loosening it to get it secured around Jamie’s larger torso.

“Hold still would ya?” Emma was reaching around to get the other end of the strap.

Jamie did not respond but stopped pulling away. Emma connected the chest strap with a loud click. And pulled on the strap tightening it up around their chest, then moving wordlessly to the ties at the top and bottom of the front panel. She secured the top one first then dropped to her knees to do up the second. Jamie seemed to have given up on escape at this point; arms hanging by their sides, seemingly consigned to letting Emma get the life jacket secured onto them. Jamie was looking over at me again, as though to ask what Emma’s deal was, and so didn't notice Emma move on from the second tie. Emma reached around Jamie’s waist, grabbing the long end of the crotch strap leg strap, sliding the adjuster down it slightly to give some room for the larger torso. It was as Emma reached between Jamie’s legs that Jamie looked down to see what she was doing. Her left hand was holding onto the buckle at the bottom of the vest, her right was retrieving the long end of the strap from between Jamie’s legs. Jamie, surprised to see Emma going for the crotch strap, pulled away stepping backwards again, but Emma didn't let go of the jacket, instead pulling the strap up and firmly snapping it into the buckle. Jamie kinda tripped as a result of Emma’s holding onto the jacket as they stepped back, causing them to bend over forwards to keep their balance, this made it easy for Emma to get the strap clipped in securely. Despite it looking very tight and bunching up Jamie’s swimsuit as they straightened up. Emma dusted off her knees as she got to her feet and gave Jamie a look over.

Jamie was now strapped into the small red and yellow jacket that had been Steph’s until moments ago. It was an even more ridiculous site than my own reflection. Jamie was twisting in the tiny jacket and unashamedly pulling at the strap between their legs.

Emma’s attention was back on Steph tho. Wordlessly, Emma approached her, a skeptical look across her face. Steph noticed her approach and seemed to shrink away even though she didn't move. Emma walked around Steph so that she was positioned directly behind her and took her large life jacket by the shoulders.

“Put your arms straight up” Steph didn't look like she wanted to but complied anyway lifting her arms slowly so that they were held up above her head. Emma pulled the jacket up and slid it clean off of Steph’s torso taking a couple steps back and dropping the jacket to the ground.

“Ya, that does not work at all on you, You’re a lot smaller than Jamie and it didn’t work on them, so not surprising.

Jamie looked up, clearly not happy with their new vest. “Guess we have to trade back then Steph sorry.”

Emma scooped the old jacket back up. She sighed “Let me check the boat, I MIGHT have something, kinda doubt it tho.” Emma walked off toward the boat taking the large jacket with her.

Jamie pulled at the new kiddy jacket some more. “Ok I’m going to go get the other one back, this is a bit too much.”

Steph was pacing “Just give her a minute, honestly it’s easier trust me, Emma can be annoyingly fixated sometimes.”

Mike returned. “I mean she isn't wrong that you want something going down those narrows”

“This is a bit over the top” Jamie pulled on the front panels of the jacket and twisted back and forth trying to get more comfortable.

“It honestly isn't so bad in the water” I tried to sound casual but thinking back to my own trip down the rapids that was easier said than done and my voice cracked. Luckily no one seemed to notice.

Jamie just kinda shrugged, not entirely taking my word for it.

Looking toward the boat I smiled in spite of myself. Steph followed my gaze and frowned.

“Looks like you’re in luck guys, she found something” I was really pretty amused by how badly Steph’s plan had backfired.

Emma no longer had the large life jacket, instead there was something bulky and bright yellow under her arm. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be the trade Steph had in mind.