[SwimTeamSpeedo]

After a long loop, Jack had the plane repositioned westward into the even stronger winds. “I’m going to land further up, the water is calmer the more west we get,” Jack announced. Just as a precaution, Jack asked each of them to take out their life jackets and put them on. This freaked all of the guys out. Jack was not really worried anything was going to happen but safety was first. “If we go in the water, best to go out the window, you will never get the doors open,” Jack explained. “Don’t swim against the pull of your jacket, it will take you up.”

Despite the fear, Erik chimed in. “Guess it is good we got swimsuits on.” The chuckles broke the tension.

The plane crossed over the secluded beach, but Jack stayed higher, near 1000 feet. He then began a slow descent, the plane getting well tossed. The waves were white capped below, pushed by the 20 mph wind gusts. Four miles westward over the water Jack began the final drop. A huge gust threw the plane off course to the south, Jack quickly corrected. They flew past the house at about 500 feet, Jack too busy to notice.

“It’s gonna be rough, hang on,” Jack said. The plane skirted over the top of the lake. Jack pushed the throttle at the last minute to help pierce the turbulence, pulling the nose way up, so high he could not see the water, landing totally be feel. The back of the pontoons hit the water first, perfectly as planned, grabbing the plane fast. Jack pulled a bit harder on the yoke then gently let the nose down, making sure that the front of the pontoons did not get pulled under by the swells. The plane slowed quickly, bobbing in the water as it came to a rest. It rose and dropped with each swell, almost like the toss of teeter totter in a playground.

Ben had almost rubbed a hole through his suit, but his grabbing of his anatomy was anything but sexual. Dylan and Erik first looked at each other and then hugged.

“Welcome home,” Jack announced. Brad gave him a high five.

“Seriously, now, were we close to crashing?” Brad asked.

“Not even. If I thought there was any real risk, I would have diverted.” Jack replied.

“But the life vests…” Dylan asked.

“You never know, so I wanted to make sure that if anything did happen, we had everything we needed to get out safe.” Jack replied. The plane made its way slowly to the dock. Jack stopped short. “You guys mind jumping in and pulling me to the dock? In these waves, I’d rather approach with no power.”

“See, I knew we’d need our swimsuits,” Erik replied. The four guys jumped out into the waist deep water. The wind was blowing strong. They were glad to be back on the ground. They tied up the plane, and leapt from the dock. MaryBeth and Rex greeted them on the dock.

“Nice ride?” MaryBeth asked. She eyed the tight wet swimsuits on the four handsome young men.

“Wicked cool,” Brad replied in a manly voice. No hint of the fear they all had a few minutes ago.