The Seabreacher Effect Ch. 01

Thank you all for suggesting I find an editor. I have connected with RF-Fast and I am certain you will be pleased with the results.

The Seabreacher Effect. Ch01.

[A few years ago, I came across an amazingly cool watercraft called a Seabreacher. It's a two person craft that looks like a shark and can travel at up to 50 miles an hour on the surface. Which would be cool, but its pièce de résistance was it could dive up to 5 feet underwater and when it surfaced, it could launch itself into the air. Not only did I think that would be amazing, but I saw potential for an amazing business. Who wouldn't love the chance for a quick trip in one of them?

The price was around £60,000, which was steep, but I figured I could easily earn that back in a year. No, the reason I wasn't on the phone to order one right away was the driver was in the front seat, restricting the passenger's views. I figured if I wanted someone to pay a premium price for a ride, they'd not want to stare at the back of my head. Plus, I needed somewhere to use it. Most reservoirs or large enough lakes would have speed limits to reduce erosion of the shore, and the sea would be too unpredictable to get a regular income.

So at that point I gave up! This is a story about what might have happened if I worked around those problems.]

I know almost all of my friends thought I was mad quitting a very well-paid job to become a glorified carnie at 32. Handing over most of my savings to buy a fancy toy and live out of a caravan for 5 months of the year. In some regards, they were right. Twelve hours a day for seven days a week was going to be exhausting. However, it would give me most of the year to do whatever I wanted. No more office 9 to 5 and no tough bosses to push me around.

It would be fair to admit I wasn't popular with the other businesses on the lake, when I applied for permission to run my business. Nor was the local council keen to let me run my vessel at its top speed. However, the central part of the lake had been used for water speed records in the past, and the laws hadn't been changed. If I agreed to limit my speed-runs to a few hundred yards and put warning buoys in the water, plus, I would pay for extra signage for the casual sailor who hired small boats. They decided it wasn't worth stopping me.

Of course, I was quick to point out that I'd be the only person offering the service in the country which would bring in extra visitors to the area.

It took a few months before I won over some locals. Starting with the ferry captains. There were 8 locations around the lake where visitors could hop on and off the ferries and walk along the lakeside paths. As the entire thing was close to ten miles, only the hardiest walked the entire thing. So I took to shadowing the ferries, coming close enough for the visitors to see me appearing and disappearing under the surface. But not close enough to endanger either vessel.

Naturally, the ferries would position themselves near the middle of the lake when I'd do a speed run, to show how the vessel could leap from the water. This had more people piling onto the ferry to watch, even if they were too cheap or scared to try it themselves.

I also became friendly with Kirsty, who ran her uncle's ice-cream van, which was parked close to the little pontoon where I ran my business. She was 19 and elfin-like, very petite, with a bubbly personality. Very chatty with her customers and very hard working when the summer heat had constant queues for her frozen wares.

As my 'ride' was at a premium price, I had many days when I had more gawkers than customers. Lots of people staring and whispering I wasn't worth it. However, a fair number came sheepishly back after seeing my 'show' from the ferry. One advantage I had was because we'd submerge underwater for part of the trip. I had no issue operating in the rain. Provided I had clear visibility of the other lake craft.

Not that it helped in the hours I'd spend sitting on my camping chair waiting for my next customer. That was where Kirsty and I became friends. When she wasn't busy, she had noticed me sitting in the rain for a few hours. She'd call me over and hand me a hot mug of coffee or even a cup-a-soup. I'd stand under the extended awning and we'd chat for a few minutes before I'd hand back her mug and offer to pay. She always turned me down.

I'd learned she lived down south, but came here for the last couple of summers to work and save money for university, which she'd be starting at the end of September. She hated living with her uncle as he was rather old-fashioned and disapproved of her going out drinking or having any sort of fun.

By the middle of September, after a spell of poor weather, we were both not getting a lot of business. Hikers might be wrapped-up for the rain, but few people wanted to eat ice cream in the rain. And I seemed to spend as long cleaning out mud and water from the 'shark' as I did driving it.

One morning after I'd lowered the vessel into the water off its trailer. I nipped off for a pee and got back to see Kirsty standing on my pontoon and looking at the 'shark'.

"Want a go?" I asked.

"Of course, a few of my friends have done it and they said it was ace! It's just too expensive for my pockets."

"I could give you a special friend's discount." I offered.

"And how 'special' a friend am I?" she asked, giving a mischievous grin and fluttering her eyelashes at me.

I blinked and did a double take. She was flirting with me. To be honest, I'd be lying if I said I'd not thought about her sexually. However, with the age gap between us at over 60% of her age, I knew it was an idle fantasy. Then I realised with her excellent customer service, she was just teasing me like she did with so many of her other customers.

She let me off the hook by giving me a playful punch on the arm. "So how much?"

"I'll have to calculate just how much coffee and soup you've given me." I said to buy time.

"And don't forget my pretty smile! Crap! Customers. Gotta go." She rushed back to her van. I was transfixed as I watched her tiny bum as she ran off. Again, I wondered again what it looked like in person.

Shaking my head, I checked out the 'shark' for my first customers of the day. At this stage it was mostly online bookings instead of footfall opportunists. I supposed I'd need to finish the season in the next week or two.

That night, I headed out to a bar for a meal instead of getting a pizza delivered to my caravan in a farmer's field. It was far better than struggling to cook in the limited kitchen. The place was busy and seemed to be full of locals rather than visitors. My sausage and chips had just arrived, and I had a full pint of the best bitter next to me, when I saw something in the corner of my eye.

It was Kirsty, sitting next to an older couple and a gangly young man. He must have been over 6 feet tall, but his acne and baby fat suggested he was young. She was waving at me and slipped out from her table and made herself over.

"Hey Simon. I've not seen you here before."

"First time. I couldn't face cooking for myself."

"It's pretty good." She replied, stealing a chip.

"I hope so."

"Thought about what my 'ride' will cost me?" As she said this, she put her hand on my shoulder and leaned in, as if she was trying to show off her cleavage.

Although she was rather flat chested, her lack of bra and the small hard nubbins of her nipples more than made up for that. She caught me looking and gave a knowing grin.

"You're evil Kirsty. We'll sort something out in the morning, OK?"

"Really? Fantastic."

"Kirsty!" came a gruff call from the other side of the room.

Her uncle was standing and putting on his coat and scowling over at me and Kirsty.

"Gotta go!" She took a step away, then turned back and surprised me with a quick kiss on the cheek.

In the morning, I arrived at the lake around 7:30 to see the almost magical mist rising from the surface. When the air is cooler than the water, it seems to steam, producing a bank of smoky clouds just over a foot deep. With almost nobody else around, it felt like a very special moment. The slight sound of water sloshing against my pontoon was almost the only sound.

Then the 21st century intruded on the moment as I heard another vehicle approaching. It was Kirsty, in her uncle's ice-cream van. By the time I'd got the Seabreacher into the water, Kirsty had parked and climbed out of the van.

She was wearing a puffer jacket, but not fastened up. Revealing a t-shirt underneath, I was disappointed to see she was wearing a bra or bikini under it. Her legs were bare as she wore baggy towelling shorts and trainers.

"Morning Simon. Have you decided on my discount yet? How about a ride for a ride?"

"Excuse me?" My mind leapt to a pleasant but unlikely conclusion.

"You take me out on the lake in that, and I give you an excitement filled ride around the lake in a knackered old ice-cream van."

I chuckled. "I don't think it's quite the same thing."

"You've not seen how bad the brakes are. Some corners are rather hair-raising," she replied with a chuckle.

"Unless that thing can go underwater..." I held up my finger to stop her saying it could. "And come back up again safely. We're not talking like for like. However, as I know, you're not going to let this drop. You let me stand under your awning in the worst of the weather. I'll treat it as a promotional tour and write it off as a business loss. Wanna go now?"

"Really?"

"Just let me run my safety checks. Say ten minutes?"

She jumped up and down in excitement, which made me feel rather old. Then she ran back to the van and stuffed her coat inside.

"Can you keep the van keys? I've no pockets." She replied, and I noticed then how thin her t-shirt and shorts were.

Her legs are skinny and pale from being trapped inside her uncle's ice-cream van all summer.

Once she got into the front seat, I helped her with the 5 point harness. Several women gave me 'the look' whilst I did that. Expecting me to slip in a sneaky grope, not that I'd ever do that. Several had looked disappointed that I'd not tried it, and a couple moved at the last second to force the issue. I think Kirsty fell into the middle category. Watching with the excitement that might not have been only related to her upcoming ride.

Squeezing in behind her, I took my seat in the back. My knees parted around the front seat from the confined space. This made it a little awkward with a larger guy in the front seat. Running through the other checks and starting the motor, I closed the canopy and tested the seal. I'd no desire to cut corners and flood the vessel when I was submerged.

Moving ever so slowly from the pontoon, I went about testing the rudder and fins. The diving planes only lowered the 'shark' a few inches lower into the water at this speed. Still, with only your head above the water, it gave a unique view of the lake. Unless you swam the entire shoreline, nobody else would see the scenery from this angle.

"We're going to start off slowly this morning and stick to the edge of the lake. We don't want to risk running into an early morning kayaker. Literally."

"OK. Erm, Simon..." She hesitated. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Where had that come from?

"No, not right now. Not for a while, actually. What about you?"

"Are you asking if I've got a girlfriend?" She feigned astonishment.

"I meant boyfriend, but these days I suppose it goes either way." She chuckled.

"Sort of. Back home, that is. It's a guy, as that's my usual preference, just so you know. I'm not sure if you could call him a proper boyfriend, though. It was more of a sex thing." That made me feel old. The casual fuck buddy era thing was something I missed out on. "I've not seen him in months and I'm going off to university as soon as I get home. I doubt he'll hang around and wait for me until Christmas."

Unsure what to say, I remained silent, waiting for her to go on. I think Kirsty wanted to say more, but clammed up after I didn't comment. So I switched to professional tour guide mode.

"Just ahead on the left behind those reeds is a small campsite. At the start of the summer, I caught a few kids skinny dipping."

"Kids?"

"OK, people your age. God! That makes me feel old."

"Relax, you're not more than mid-thirties, are you?"

"I'm 32." I replied.

"Oops." Kirsty replied at her faux pas. "It's OK, just the shaggy look ages you."

Now I regretted that I'd let my hair and beard get a little out of hand. Hard to maintain them when working 7 days a week. I must schedule a few days off next year to deal with such things.

"So was it just guys, or were there any hot babes as well?"

"Four guys and two girls. Let's just say one of them wouldn't need flotation devices."

"Unlike me then?"

"Don't put yourself down. Some guys prefer smaller perky boobs instead of giant sacks of blubber."

"Are you one of them?" She asked, and I sensed the question was more than just casual interest. I paused before answering.

"Actually, I am. Big boobs are fun to look at, but anything more than a mouthful is a waste."

She giggled, and I added a little more power into the engine. As we neared the lower end of the lake, the mist was clearing.

I could see one ferry already running, taking the locals to the various places of work around the lake. At a hundred feet out, I flipped on the strobe light on the top of the dorsal fin and tapped my horn. I saw the captain of the ferry jump and look about wildly. Then he spotted me and tapped his horn twice and waved. It was Alan, a pretty cool guy and something of a friend. He reached for the microphone to talk to his passengers.

Altering the course to come up alongside the far larger ferry. Maintaining a good 20 feet between us. Sailing just a little faster than the ferry until I could see every face at the windows watching us.

"Ready?" I asked.

"For what?"

"A little taste of the fun you're expecting." I gave our audience a salute and increased power, easing down on the diving planes.

In less than two seconds, we vanish into the murky depths. Ok, it's only about 5 feet, but the water is far harder to see through than I'd expected when I originally came here. Kirsty let out a nervous giggle, and I saw her hands gripping the edge of the vessel a little harder.

Easing off on the power left me with a tricky bit. I wanted the ferry to get ahead of us, but the 'shark' only stayed under water with forward movement over the diving planes. With no power, we'd bob up to the surface in a handful of seconds. I gauged the ferries' movement through vibrations through the water, and looked up through the transparent canopy to judge how shallow we were getting.

As the water cleared and I could make out the sky, I knew the dorsal fin would break the surface at any moment. Gradually increasing the power, I could feel us descend again, and once we reached our deepest depth, I poured on more power and angled us up.

We'd not leap from the water at this speed, but create an impressive splash as we reappeared from under the water. It had taken a few tries to ensure I was just far enough from the ferries not to splash any passengers on deck. As expected, I got a whoop of excitement from Kirsty, and I saw the younger passengers on the ferry jumping up and down with their hands in the air.

As we passed the cockpit, I saw Alan give me a big thumbs up, and I increased the power a little more to pull away. Then slew the 'shark' into a tight turn. It's a little like riding a motorcycle, in that you have to bank over steeply to turn. So half of the canopy is submerged in water.

I've had more than a few older men, who pretend nothing phased them, exclaim in alarm at that. Forgetting for the moment, we're submersible.

As we circled around and passed the ferry for a second time, Alan honked his horn at us before we slalomed towards the centre of the lake. I'd paid for two rows of buoys about 400 yards long spaced about 50 feet apart. Each parallel row was just over 100 feet apart and was my exclusive domain for my speed runs. 50 miles an hour may not seem like much in a car, but try doing it on a go-kart with your bum an inch off the ground. Then think of doing it on a boat, when you start off with your eye line almost at water level.

"Is this what you wanted most of all?" I called out to Kirsty.

"Part of it!" She called back over the louder engine noise.

Checking the strobe was still on. I took a circuit around the outside of the buoys to check there are no swimmers, kayakers, or debris in the water to spoil it. Then lined up for a speed run. My licence said I could run at top speed within the cordoned off area, but I've always interpreted that to mean top speed for the full length. So I added on a little more run up to get up to speed. After all, 400 yards takes less than 20 seconds at top speed.

The conditions were perfect, no breeze and the mist had almost entirely gone. Taking one last look for safety, I hit full power, and we shot forward like a rocket. 260 supercharged horsepower, driving a super sleek, streamlined body, and weighing less than a third of your average small car. Think Lamborghini performance on the water.

Kirsty was squealing in fear and delight, as did most of my customers, even the staid old grannies. Although, it's harder to control the 'shark' at this speed. It's high in the water and balancing it to keep it in a straight line and not catch a fin or diving plane took me weeks to master.

Seconds later, I eased off the power and entered a long wind lazy loop to turn around.

"Fuck! That's such a rush!" Kirsty blurted out and burst out giggling. "I think a few more times like that and I could cum!"

Grinning, I'd once overheard a few women whisper that to their boyfriends after they'd been on the 'shark'. At full speed, the vibration from the engine seemed to pass right through the seats. How many climaxes the shark had contributed to, and how many happy boyfriends reaped the rewards after the ride on the lake, I'd never know. One guy had brought his girlfriend back three times in a week and didn't hang about after she got off. At least from the shark.

"This one's going to be different. Brace yourself." I ordered, as I lined up for another run.

"Why?" she asked, her voice was a mixture of excitement and fear. The typical roller coaster feeling.

"Because this time, we're going to fly."

"Oh, shit!"

Normally, I'm rather careful about breaching the shark. Get the angle wrong and the impact can be pretty hard. Both for the passengers and the machine. Today, I thought it was worth it. If Kirsty gets excited from just a speed run...

Pushing the down planes fully forward, it's like we've run into treacle as we slow and sink. I know Kirsty was thrown against her harness as we slowed from 15 miles an hour to about 4. However, once we're down 5 feet, I balanced the down planes just enough to keep us down, without robbing us of speed, by trying to go deeper. As we reached the top speed underwater of 20 mph, I angled us up.

Almost instantly, we go from the dark muddy brown of the lake to sunlight above us. Kirsty screamed in terror and I grinned. The launch was perfect. We exploded from the water at just the right angle. The 'shark' cleared the water fully, but only by about 1 foot, so the angle we hit the water again was important.

We wanted to kiss the surface on landing and not dig in hard. That could leave bruises against the harness and reduce the chance of repeat business. The landing, with the accompanying large splash, was as perfect as the launch.

"Oh, my fucking god! That was amazing. And I thought you were overpriced. Now I think you don't charge enough." Kristy burst out, her words falling over themselves.