I was in my late teens before I shared my skinnydipping secret with anyone. I'd planned a camping trip with two other friends, Mark and David, to celebrate the end of school. We'd persuaded two female classmates to join us, Helen and Kirsty, making it a group of five. On the first night we set up camp near a lake and sat around our camp fire drinking and telling stories. It must have been a combination of the hot summers evening, the alcohol we weren't used to drinking, and an excess of wild teenage hormones that caused the stories to become more and more exaggerated and my own inhibitions to dissipate.

Eventually, I had enough courage to suggest that we all go skinny dipping. The response was noticeably cautious, especially from the girls, but to my delight the guys thought it was a good idea and before long we were all stripping off. The girls however did not. They laughed and cheered but insisted that the boys go first. There was a moments hesitation as the three of us stood in our boxers, each wondering how far the other would go, and whether or not any of us would go totally naked in front of the girls. The buzz I was getting was unlike any I'd had before. The thrill of being naked was there but this time it was more sexual. I was extremely conscious of my body especially my penis. Every part of my body seemed to be tingling. I'd done this sort of thing hundreds of times, but this time I was being watched. I was performing to an audience, but I was also sharing the experience with two of my best mates. It was no longer something private, something secret. I wanted them to see me.

As the three of us stood in only our boxers time seemed to stand still. I wanted to take in all that was happening. Adrenaline was rushing through my body. My heart was pumping hard. I could feel a slight trembling in my arms and my legs. The girls were expecting me, even willing me to drop my boxers. My friends had risen to my challenge and were now calling my bluff. I couldn't back out now. The cautious voice in my head warning me about getting into trouble, telling me that nudity was wrong, that I was being bad, was fading, and a new stronger voice was shouting, 'This is who I am and this is what I want to do'.

In a single move I took a deep breath, pulled down on the waistband of my boxers, wriggled them down to my ankles and took a quick hop, flicking my boxers into the air and tossing them aside. I turned and ran towards the lake. Ran like the wind all the way into the cold water and threw myself into a swim. A hundred yards or so into the lake I stopped and looked around. My mates were still standing in their boxers, laughing at me. The girls were cheering and whistling. I was more annoyed than embarrassed. I hauled myself out of the water and walked back towards our camp, not caring that I was naked. They were all clapping as I approached. "Cowards", I called them. "Get naked and enjoy yourselves".

Mark made as if he was going to get dressed again. I was having none of it. I lunged forward and made a grab for his boxers. There was a loud tearing sound as I yanked them hard in a downward direction. He stumbled and fell over. I continued to pull. As he rolled over, I realised that his boxers had come right off in my hand. Without thinking, and by now I was laughing, I ran back to the lake, swam out further than before and threw his boxers still further into the water. In the heat of the moment he ran after me. We were both in the water splashing around as I tried to prevent him from reaching his boxers.

Back at the camp I'd given the girls an idea. They'd both made a grab for David's boxers and been successful. He was now chasing them around the camp, totally in the buff, as they taunted him with his own shorts. Mark and I watched from the lake as the chase came down to the waters edge. The girls passed David's boxers from one to the other before David just gave up and waded into the Lake to join us. Helen was left holding his shorts and stood swinging them in the air as she watched from the shore.

We splashed around for a while and swam out to deeper water but the girls wouldn't join us. Mark and David had entered into the spirit of it and were now enjoying themselves as much as I was, but we couldn't persuade either girl to join us. They stood at the waters edge talking and examining David's boxers and laughing. Kirsty paddled into the shallow water a little way but kept her T-shirt and shorts firmly in place.

The water was cold and we couldn't stay in for long. After five or ten minutes we ran back to the camp fire. The swim had been exhilarating, and the warmth from the fire made our wet skin tingle. The girls joined us by the fire as we dried ourselves off but much as we tried we couldn't make them go skinny dipping.

The next night we decided to do the same again. We'd moved our camp to a new location on the other side of the lake. This was a more secluded spot with trees coming right down to the waters edge. There were large rocks jutting into the water creating large pools, some were quite deep. We were sitting around our fire finishing the remains of our meal when someone asked where Kirsty had gone. She was nowhere to be seen. We called her but there was no reply. After ten minutes or so we heard her voice coming from the direction of the lake. We looked and saw her emerging from behind a huge boulder. Only her head was visible above the water but from her outline we knew she'd taken off her clothes. We all ran down to the waters edge, scrambling over the rocks to get there. There on the other side of the boulders, at the side of a small inlet, was Kirty's clothes, neatly folded in a pile. Kirsty was skinny dipping in a large rock pool on the other side of the inlet.

We all stood there, open mouthed watching her dip below the water and re-emerge somewhere else. The water was too deep to reach her without swimming across the inlet as she had done. After a few minutes she climbed out and scrambled up the rocks on the other side. Although we had been friends for some time we had never seen her naked and we all thought how beautiful she looked as she perched on top of a large boulder casually waving to us.

It was too much to resist and before long I was stripping off too. Mark and David followed and for the second time in as many days we were preparing to go skinny dipping. There was no rush this time, in fact we were quite casual about it. We waded into the water and swam around calling Helen to join us. She was still reluctant. Kirsty meanwhile was watching from on top of her boulder and seemed quite comfortable. On the other side of the inlet we scrambled up the boulders to join her.

Kirsty waited until we were quite close before taking a running jump back into the water and letting out a loud shriek as she did so. Mark, David and myself followed without hesitation creating three more huge splashes. We all swam back over to Helen, who had now taken off her top and removed her shorts and was standing knee deep in the water in her bra and panties looking a bit embarrassed. It didn't matter if she didn't want to be naked we just wanted her to join in. We all splashed her and she ran squealing back to the rocky shore. David and Mark ran after her and by the time Kirsty and I caught up they had already lifted her and were trying to drag her back to the water. Kirsty and I took a leg each and we carried Helen at shoulder height into the water where it was quite deep. Eventually, after much teasing we lowered her into the water and all five of us splashed around throwing water at each other.

With all the noise we were making we didn't notice the couple walking their dog along the lake shore, or the boat that was approaching from across the lake - the lake patrol no less. The couple seemed quite amused and shouted something from the shore. But as we sheepishly retreated to our camp the lake patrol took a less sympathetic view. Two officers from the boat came over. Helen was almost wetting herself, she had been the least keen in the first place. Kirsty was rapidly pulling on her clothes and had a towel wrapped around herself too. By the time we had recovered our clothes the patrol officers had arrived.

The couple with the dog stopped to watch as we were given a ticking off from the guys from the boat. They gave us their standard lecture about how dangerous the water could be and how even on a hot summers day such as it was, the lake was icy cold and very deep. I think they enjoyed seeing the embarrassment on our faces and I'm sure they took a good look at our naked bodies now covered in goose bumps. We admitted that we should have been more careful and promised not to do anything else stupid. They finished off by wishing us good luck with our camping and went away to laugh at us and tell their friends what they'd seen.

Later we would laugh about it too, and in time even Helen saw the funny side.