The words 'white water rafting' alone are enough to send thrills coursing through you. The activity itself is an exhilarating rush of adrenalin as one makes an attempt to navigate a small boat through rushing rapids.
White water rafting is a challenging sport that involves paddling a raft along or across open water or rivers and navigating the raft to calmer areas. The degree of roughness of the water varies greatly and the sole purpose of the sport is only for the adrenaline rush that rafters experience.
White water rafts first began as reeds, planks and logs that were bound together and kept watertight with mud or pitch.
Today most rafts are similar to military assault boats, being made of more durable materials, including vinyl or rubber fabric and built as totally independent air-tight chambers. Most vary in length, but are usually between eleven feet and twenty feet in length and as wide as six feet to eight feet in breadth. The single person white water raft is called a packraft and is much smaller - almost half the length and width of the smaller multi-person rafts.
White water rafting first began as rafting, the most ancient of water transportations and was used for carrying food, hunting and moving people from one place to another.
Lieutenant John Fremont (U.S. Army), made the first white water rafting trip in 1842 on the Platte River in the United States. By the 70's, white water rafting had become increasingly popular and as experienced rafters searched for other rivers to ride, they travelled the globe to find some of the most incredible and challenging rivers around. As a result, white water rafting was a featured sport at the Munich Olympic Games.
Although white water rafting is something that even children can do, the sport is divided into classes which are characterised by the roughness of the water, what is in the water, the manoeuvrability and the level of danger. They include 6 classes ranging from Class 1 where the difficulty level is minimal, the course is smooth and very little manoeuvring and no skills are needed. The difficulty increases level by level culminating in Class 6 which is the most dangerous since it involves huge white water waves, extreme danger, massive rocks, very long drops and possible damage to rafts. Here, an overall extreme white water rafting experience without serious injury is mandatory on the part of the rafter.
In concern of safety, government regulations ensure that all rafters have certified equipment - rafts, life jackets and paddles - as well as setting mandatory requirements for age limits and experience.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
