A Raft guide is a person who guides others on a white water rafting activity. A raft guide is a trained professional that capable of guiding on commercial white water rafting trips. Most raft guides are employed by rafting companies who do either multi or single day trips.
Contents |
Typically first year raft guides are required to undergo a training program often run by the company before beginning to guide commercial trips. Guide schools utilize classroom and on-river experience to train students in rigging and maneuvering vessels; river flow and hazards; scouting and running rapids; and river rescue and emergency procedures. Trainees are required to have a minimum of Basic First Aid and CPR certifications. Additional advanced certifications such as Wilderness First Aid, Wilderness First Responder, Swift Water Rescue, White Water Rescue or Emergency Medical Technician are strongly encouraged.
Training may include such skills as:
A typical raft guide is usually in his or her twenties. However, guides range anywhere from 18 to up in their sixties. The majority of raft guides are seasonal employees.
The job of the guide while on the river is to entertain the guest, and navigate the boat. On smaller rapids guides will turn the boat and go through rapids a certain way to ensure that everyone on the boat gets wet. On larger rapids it is the guides responsibility to keep the raft from flipping in unsafe places, and to keep it on the 'company line' during the rapids. An important aspect of a raft guide is the "Raft Talk". This is the talk that a guide will give to their guests. Every raft guides talk is unique. Most new guides will listen to veteran guide's talks and take bits and pieces of each to create their own. A talk could be a series of jokes to keep the crew laughing, a history lesson on the area, or even just a 'get to know you' type talk; the best talks include all three. On difficult rivers the guide will often extensively brief their crew on the rapids, giving swimming instructions, where a throw bagger might be, and hazards to avoid in the rapid when swimming.
Oar Guiding is where the guide maneuvers the raft with oars from either the stern or middle of the raft. On multi-day trips it is common to have a center oar rig where clients do not paddle, and where gear is stored. Guides oar guiding will use techniques such as 'walking the oars' through flat sections or 'holding a star' when stern rigged through large waves. Oar Guides generally have more control over their raft than paddle guides, but oar rigged rafts are dangerous when flipping and hard to re-right making them less versatile in big water rafting.
Paddle Guiding is the most common type of high adventure guiding where the guide sits in the stern of the boat with a one bladed guide stick (paddle). Using draws, prys, the guide can influence the direction of the boat, along with using different paddling commands for their crew.
Bow Guiding is where two guides are in the boat, one in the stern and one in the bow. This can be done in a stern rigged boat, or a raft where both guides are paddle guiding. It is usually only done over short stretches of whitewater that require a lot of maneuvering for safe passage. Bow guides use techniques such as 'spearing' through large waves, and bow draws to quickly change the direction of the boat. Unlike stern guides the bow guide will never pry with their paddle, instead they will change the orientation of their hands to maintain a power grip in both directions.
A raft guide is paid a small amount per trip, usually near minimum wage in developed countries. The rafting industry is a service industry and tipping is strongly encouraged.