What is common between the "Indian" films with the participation of Goiko Mitich and the Russian film creation called "The Geographer Drank the Globe"? Basically nothing but one detail. Both in the tapes of the DEFA studio and in the drama of Alexander Veledinsky with the participation of Konstantin Khabensky, groups of people - respectively, dashing Indians and ordinary Russian schoolchildren - move along a turbulent river with boulders and rapids. Some are in a canoe, others are on a raft. This process is called rafting.
Whether a raft or a boat
Unlike its Indian and other ancestors, the modern raft (translated from English means "raft") looks rather like a large inflatable boat or even a synthetic mattress. And it is able to overcome long distances and rather dangerous obstacles on the water without loss. From four to two dozen people can sail on it with a sufficient degree of comfort and safety, even on the most troubled river.
According to the number of layers, rafts are divided into one- and two-layer. The advantage of the former, lighter and more compact, is the ease of preparation for the rafting. The main advantage of the latter is considered to be greater reliability and stability on the water.
Ancient rafting
Modern rafting is not very similar to a classic wooden raft, but rafting itself has been known to mankind since time immemorial. And the same dashing "German" Indians, who bravely fought with the white conquerors in the cinema, were probably not the pioneers of rafting, but took over the science of managing their boats on a far from smooth and quiet river from the former inhabitants of local reservoirs.
Archaeological excavations confirm similar assumptions. In their opinion, canoe boats, which look great even on the most terrible river rapids, have long been known to people and were used precisely to overcome natural water obstacles. Rafting was used for rafting not only for warriors, but also for expeditions of gold diggers and hunters, but also for moving bulky items for industrial purposes. For example, wood.
By the way, sometimes something unimaginable is called rafting. If only something that resembles a raft could move on the water and be able to pass at least some obstacle without loss.
Sport rafting
With the development of rivers by people and various ways to overcome them, rafting, along with rowing slalom, began to turn into a truly extreme kind of water sports. He is able to throw a real sea of adrenaline and energy into the blood of the participants.
In sports documents, such movement of people in helmets and life jackets on rafts, or rather rafts, is called the scientific phrase: "Team rafting on mountain rivers for a while, with the obligatory overcoming of natural and artificial water obstacles." The crew of such a raft is, in fact, a professional team. And its captain also acts as a coach, responsible not only for the result, but also for the safety of teammates and the raft.
Rafting sporting events consist of four distinct types: sprint (or qualification), for which a team can receive up to 100 points; parallel sprint (200 points); slalom (300); and, finally, the so-called long race (400). The team with the maximum number of points becomes the winner of the tournament.
Tourist rafting
Inflatable and convenient both for transportation and for carrying, the synthetic "raft-boat-mattress" is very popular among extreme tourists who love risk and excitement. It is especially in demand in early spring, when snow avalanches descend from the mountains and stormy or so-called white water rushing along river beds with abundant foam and fountains of ice splashes.
The main obstacles for rafts are considered to be individual stones, dangerous rapids (areas with a large drop in the water level) and no less dangerous and threatening to overturn the barrels (areas with a reverse flow that occurs at the place where the water falls). The rapids that rafters cross are divided into six categories. Amateur and novice athletes usually compete on the rapids of the third or fourth categories. Professionals - fifth or sixth.
The maximum task for many tourists, especially beginners, is a kind of swimming in the icy water of a wildly chaotic stream. But for more experienced rafters, the same task is different - to defeat this terrible stream, cope with it, subjugate the "white water" and survive …