Adrenaline Rafting Basics
In the last 30 years, rapids rafting has gained massive popularity. People tend to go in groups for a family gathering, friends reuniting and even corporate team building exercises. Rafting is massively fun and an undisputed adrenaline rush.
At its core, whitewater rafting is simply the act of taking a raft down through turbulent areas of a river. These turbulent areas are known as rapids. Rapids are formed by three factors – constriction, gradient and obstruction. Water naturally flows downhill because of gravity. When it is constricted, it pushes in from the sides, speeding up and getting turbulent. Speed also increases when the gradient get steeper and, of course, obstructions cause water to crash into them and swirl around as the flow tries to find the best way to follow gravity. Each of these events causes rapids and the resulting turbulence churns the water thus causing the froth. The goal of rafting is to surf these rapids without being flipped or dragged under.