Historical Origins of Rafting

People have been rafting on rivers for travel or fishing throughout the history of humankind. This adventurous sports activity is known to be done since 1811 and the modern version has become popular around the 1950s. The first known attempt to do this extreme sport was on Snake River without any equipment of today’s rafting. The river is named Mad River due to its dangerous route. Later on, the first commercial trip on the river was successfully done in 1940.

Rafting used to be done with an individual paddling with 3 meters to 4.3 meters rafts with double-sided paddles. The modern rafting and whitewater rafting are done with multi-person rafts and single-sided paddles. The boat is propelled by a team on it. The team is guided by a professional raft guide at the stern of the boat, who controls the navigation and the speed of the boat by leading the team.

Rafting can possibly be fatal in some rivers, today it is done by many people and is a safe outdoor sports activity in the commercial areas. This sport also has tournaments and an International Rafting Federation. Most commercial routes are suitable for beginners and you can easily find daily rafting tours, rafting tours camping, and whitewater rafting according to your experience level.

What is Whitewater Rafting?

Whitewater rafting has more action than the traditional rafting. Conquering the river with teamwork and beating the fear of dangerous white water makes this sport very exciting. The best part of whitewater rafting which separates it from the other action sports is the chance to share the joy of the action with the beloved ones. It is 200 years old activity and shares a common history with rafting. Like rafting, it is done with a team of 8 to 12 people with a rafting guide. There are tours for white rafting in different locations around the world. There are six grades of difficulty also known as the International Scale of River Difficulty.

• Class 1: Skill level of it is very basic. You can try this level with your family and kids.
• Class 2: It requires basic paddling skills. It is done on rivers that have some rough water and some rocks.
• Class 3: You need some experience in rafting for this level. There are tours that do this level of whitewater rafting.
• Class 4: At this level, you need to be more experienced and be able to do the maneuvers in medium waves.
• Class 5: Only the professionals are allowed to do whitewater rafting on this level. It has large waves, drops, so it requires excellent maneuvers.
• Class 6: This level is the top of whitewater rafting and it can be seriously dangerous even for professionals. Rivers with class 6 can damage the best equipment and there are so few who completed all section.