# Raft Instruction Wanted...



## Zciperski (Jul 31, 2008)

Tired of going commercial and bumming rides on my friends rafts.. .anyone interested making some money and teaching me how to guide/paddle(oar frame) my own raft...


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## Leland (Jan 25, 2004)

You should sign on for guide training with a raft company.

Where do you live?

L


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## GoodTimes (Mar 9, 2006)

Just go for it man!  Get a used boat (cause you're gonna beat the crap out of it).....you know some runs if you've gone commercial or ridden with friends. Get on the oars....or find some friends that want to bum rides off you. 

There will be plenty of peeps on this forum that will gladly have you along on trips and give some rowing/guiding pointers..........but finding someone to hop on with and take their oars/guide stick might be a little harder.

my .02 

Get a boat, be diligent with safety, dig in.


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## Zciperski (Jul 31, 2008)

I would love to, but due to my job I dont have the kind of flexibility at the moment... I am in denver, and am looking to be able to boat class II and III's, nothing too big..


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## jmalefyt (Apr 23, 2009)

I aggree with Leland. A guide training class would be the way to go. They will teach you to read water, flip boats, and even some basic swift water rescue, however, I don't think they will train you in exchange for beer. Now is the time to get in on one. Most of the outfitters are already training.


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## melted_ice (Feb 4, 2009)

Read up on river dynamics, start on easier rivers, and follow your friends down the river to get some confidence. There is no reason you should have to pay somebody, but pay if you must.


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## jmalefyt (Apr 23, 2009)

Or just go for it...


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## GoodTimes (Mar 9, 2006)

Guiding classes with outfitters are alright.....I've done one so I could guide commercially.....although at the time of the class I'd already been on the water most of my life. My dad and gramps (and me) learned the good ole fashioned way.......by trial and error....sink or swim.

I don't think you have to pay money to learn how to raft......I'd say the majority of people on here haven't. A swiftwater rescue course is DEFINITELY something you should invest money in to understand safety.

Personally, I don't think there's any better way to learn than to just get out there and do it.......make mistakes.......learn.

When you have your own stuff, running down the river with other folks that can give pointers is the way to go.


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## lmaciag (Oct 10, 2003)

I started rowing last year after several years of kayaking. I got all the gear and had friends willing to ride in my boat and give pointers. Within about 6 months I was rowing the Grand Canyon.

It sounds like you have friends with boats from your first post. Any of them willing to let you have a turn at the oars during the mellow stuff (kind of how I dabbled with it on trips where I was kayaking before actually taking the plunge)?


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## Ture (Apr 12, 2004)

If you are going to start with class II and III (which is the only thing that makes sense) then I would go for it, as long as there is at least one other raft to show you the lines and provide safety.

I'm just a beginner rafter but as long as I stick to class III and below it ain't too difficult, especially if I copy the oarsman who is going down the river in front of me.


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

A good place to start would be Jeff Bennett's book The Complete Whitewater Rafter. Check it out on Amazon, or better yet, at your local boating store (like Downriver Equipment since you're in Denver). You should be able to get a copy for about $15. Its got lots of valuable info ranging from reading water to river hydraulics to history of whitewater boating to how to run a paddle crew to oar strokes for negotiating whitewater to... Well, hopefully you get the idea. 

Also, use this website to hook up with other boaters who can coach you and let you follow their lines in the rapids. There are bound to be folks heading up to the Upper Colorado or other easier rivers who are willing to show you the oar strokes.

Have fun!

-Andy


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## upshitscreek (Oct 21, 2007)

a good 101 rafting video too...


Let's Get Wet DVD/VHS

instruction is good but not required. i went to the school of "have at it",as well and it's fine. start on the pumphouse or horsethief / ruby runs when levels drop abit and work up from there as confidence builds .it doesn't take long. i had previous ww experience from kayaking,ect but rowed some straight forward III the first day and rowed the MFS a few months later, no problem.

good luck,dude.


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## RMOC (May 4, 2007)

Rocky Mountain Outdoor Center offers top quality oar instruction. We have instructional courses that cover the basics without having to commit to 10 days of commercial raft guide training.
1-800-255-5784
Kayaking lessons & instruction on Colorado's Arkansas River, guided mountain bike trips, whitewater rafting, and rock climbing lessons for kids & adults


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## Jamespio (Apr 13, 2009)

I just started out also, and I'm taking a pretty simple approach. I get friends with experience to go out with me and run Class III. When I can't find such friends I limit myself to a couple of runs that are mostly flat with just a few Class II rapids. One such run finishes with a short Class III which adds a bit of excitement.

The bigger problem is that until I get a trailer I can't go out alone at all, in the beast of a raft I've acquired. No way to carry it down or up a ramp on my own.


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## riojedi (May 23, 2005)

Just going for it is fun and all, but here's a link local rafting club High Country River Rafters - Home Page 

FYI- Compensating somebody, without an outfitter licence, to take you rafting or for instruction is illegal in Colorado.


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## jhalseth (Sep 20, 2004)

quit your job. train at a sub par company and join the ranks as a broke ass raft guide making just enough to pay for rent and booze. In July. Pretty much unemployed like the other 10 percent of our country but its a kick ass time..sometimes


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## penguin (May 1, 2009)

I agree with what's been said above: just jump in and go for it.

I was in the exact same situation earlier this Spring. I am planning two trips this summer (Deso, MF Salmon) and I needed some hands-on oar experience. First I had a skilled friend take me down a river with an oar frame, then I started going on my own. Bit by bit, my confidence really increased. I'm totally comfortable on II/III, and I don't expect to move up a whole lot even in the future. 

I take safety really seriously because I'm guiding for my family. All of us have had to train on rope bags, situational response, and some basic first aid. Perhaps the best safety training I had this Spring was a real situation with some IKers on a river. I had to throw bags, swim for gear, retrieve IKs, etc. all in one day. 

At least for me, several days of oar frame training on II/III seems to be enough for a basic trip on similar water. For now I'll avoid IV rapids.


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## yarmonymatoid (Nov 5, 2008)

Jump in and do it. Be safe though. Start out on something like the Upper C or virtually anything between Glenwood Springs and Loma. Run the same section multiple times and master it before moving up a notch. Maybe take a swift water course or get a guide to run you through the drill (it's not rocket science, although some guides like to think it is) and get CPR cert up to date.

Most of all, do what you did here, ask questions, only ask them at the boat ramp or on the river. One thing I know about boaters is that they all have an opinion and they are more than willing to fill you full of it! Other than learning good safety practices... your floating a non motorized down a river. Doesn't require a map, GPS or a text book, let the river teach you.


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## pbowman (Feb 24, 2004)

*Safety and Reading Water are key*

I have kayaked for 10 years, and just started rafting this year. Knowing how to keep you and your crew safe are the most important, and if you are experienced in other whitewater endeavors (kayaking) you should be pretty far along. Understanding and reading water are key to guiding the raft IMO, you just have the read the water early and plan/execute in advance. All the guides who I raft with say my water reading skill would not be improved by any typical guide training program, and the only thing I would learn is possibly some additional raft specific paddle strokes. The first trip I guided on my 12' raft was a R3 crew on the Lower Taos Box - I was with other experienced rafters so I could follow their lines, but near the end I took the lead and was read/run on most of the Rio Bravo section.

The biggest thing I have adjusted to is how slow the raft is. For me, the raft is like a school bus compared to my kayak as a turbo coupe. You also need to be very conscious of boat angle, and where the strong(est) current is going to push you. I am comfortable on CL IV in my kayak and have been fine with up to CL III in the raft, so I would simply suggest some easier runs that you know well to start and build your confidence up from there. I have an oar frame for my raft too, but have no experience on it yet - I plan to start on pumphouse, state bridge, and grizzly to get some experience and work up from there in order to run Westwater later this summer. Just my 2c on everything, but working ok so far - no flips or dump trucks yet. Later.


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## lhowemt (Apr 5, 2007)

When I couldn't find anyone that boated the Lochsa, I "hired a friend". I called a local guide to see if they'd let me follow them down, and sure enough they would. Turns out I called the right guide, we're fast friends, and I still run with them on occasion (like maybe this weekend). The Lochsa was big water, so I wasn't interested in just tagging along, I wanted to be safe. If you are concerned about safety and getting your way down, there's nothing wrong with seeing if some outfitters will let you tag along for a small fee (at first only). After a while, I'm considered a "safety boat", which seems pretty silly! Plus, it goes a long way to prevent the guide vs private bias that seems to develop all-too-often.


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## skyegod (Apr 23, 2009)

Ture said:


> If you are going to start with class II and III (which is the only thing that makes sense) then I would go for it, as long as there is at least one other raft to show you the lines and provide safety.


I cannot stress enough the importance of this.
I am a newbie - starting this year, got all the gear, and thought that I would run Shoshone at high water. I had been a passenger through this run and also did it in a ducky. We flipped in less than a minute because I "Thought" I knew, somebody else came past us at the take out and really stressed the line that we should have taken, and that they would have led us through if we/I had asked.
Dumbass me still has the scabs and the bruises from a month ago. Wife is extremely wary of getting into the raft with me again, etc....


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