Rafting, an Extreme Sport for the Dare devils

By Richard Gómez

When you want to talk about extreme sport, then the word rafting has to come into consideration. There are several extreme sports of course that people can talk about, but rafting, well, maybe bunchy jumping can come close to it in terms of danger and anxiety involved in the sport. People participating in rafting are sometimes mistaken to be actors as much of the action looks too dangerous to be real. It involves riding in white waters with rocky terrains on the river beds which makes the journey very rough and adventurous. The occupants are usually asked to dress in floaters just in case some of them end up dropping into the waters during the rafting exercise. This is expected to act as an emergency for the passengers of the raft.

In the early years the raft was made of a bundle of reeds tied together with canopy roofing and in those days, rafting was mainly for economic activities such as fishing, or just simple transportation for movement from one shore to another. However, the modern day raft has evolved a lot from the traditional raft. This has been made possible by the nature of the modern world where people have figured out new more reliable, cheap and simple ways to build rafts. In the same way, modern day rafting has changed from the original fishing to a sporting activity. The modern type of raft is normally made of inflatable tube whose design differs from one country to another as well as with the different purposes the raft is intended for.

A typical rafting activity consists of about four to seven occupants of a single raft depending on the size of the raft. The bigger the raft the more the paddlers are required. Not everyone is required to paddle but in cases where the occupants of the raft are too few to the minimum of four, all of the rafters are required to participate in the rafting activity by way of paddling. It is required that the occupants spread their weight evenly within the raft either by sitting each at the corner of the raft in case of a rectangular raft with one on the center. This will ensure that the rafting activity does not end tragically as the raft is expected to overcome the torrid journey.

While most modern rafts are entirely made of inflatable tubes, some are actually made partly of inflatable tube as well as a board in between the tubes. For instance the modern day Russian raft is made with a board in between two tubes on the sides which is used for a several rafting adventures. In the Western Europe and United States of America, modern day rafting is made possible by use of rafts made entirely out of inflatable tube. Some of these rafts are rectangular in shape while others are oval shaped with blunt rare and front. Even children have expedited the enjoyable yet anxious state of rafting. The sport has become so global that even the developing countries such as Kenya have embraced it.

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