something about

Rafting

Basic rules

Rafting is not a democracy. There's only 1 boss on board who says what everyone will do, and that's the steering man. When there's a rock coming up, you don't have time discussing 'how will we tackle that', the steering man decides, and everyone does as he or she tells. If you can't accept that, it's better you start kayaking instead of rafting.

Rafting can be dangerous; therefore to avoid the dangers as much as possible you need good equipment, good steering people with experience on that particular river, and you should know the limits of your own skills.

Avoiding the dangers

A good rafting company should have steering people with a lot of experience on that particular river. One guy can be good on the river where he learned the skills, but put him on another river like Zambezi, and he can get lost.

It's also better to raft with several boats then with 1. It's easier to "rescue" someone out of the water when you are with several boats.

Check out the equipment.

As for boats, there are several brands: Avon is the Rolls Royce amoung rafting boats, they cost around 5000 Euro for 1 boat, Aqua Design is also good but cheaper at 3000 Euro. A Czech boat like Bora is much less good costing 1500 Euro, although if he's in good condition you'll probably won't notice it. In wilder rivers, straps to put your feet in are imperative. They saved me more then once from falling in the water on class 3 - 5 rivers.

Life vests are also very important. Not only do they keep you floating, it is also the main tool to lift you out of the water into the boat once you've fallen overboard. A rescuer will grab the shoulders of the vest and pull you in. Therefore, a good vest has reinforced shoulders, fits well around your body and has a strap between your legs, so that when people try to pull you in, they pull in your whole body, and not just your life vest.

You also need wetsuits. Usually the quality of these is an indication for the quality of the rest of the material.

Choosing a good river

Don't raft a class V river on your first day. You can get scared and probably never jump in a raft anymore. Start easily on a class II river, and you can also do some rescue exercises there so you know what it is when you flip into the water. You'll learn what to do when the boat has flipped, or when you fall into the water etc...

A river in rainy season is completely different from the same river in dry season. I saw pictures of Ubaye river in April and in August, and it's a huge difference.

Don't attempt a forbidden (class VI) piece. If it's forbidden, it means people have died there, and it's wise not to risk the same.

Never underestimate a river, even the Austrian world champion kayaking drowned in 1999 while people where watching him and tried to rescue him. The power of water can be enormous.

Some of the good Rafting sites are:

www.noc.com
www.raftinginthesmokies.com
www.gorp.com
www.wildwaterrafting.com
www.whitewaterrafting.com

*News*
CNN	BBC	FOX NEWS
REUTERS	US NEWS	NEWS.COM
NBC	WASHINGTON POST	MORE NEWS