RAFTING: The Unwanted Advice

Cagayan de Oro City is home to the White Water Rapids—the best site for a high-powered, high-adrenaline, high-energy sport like rafting. Rafting is a team sport done on rough cascading waters for several hours. In rafting, your best competition is nature itself.Getting Started: Safety First White water rafting is very dangerous, especially if instructions and precautions are ignored. Paddlers are tactically placed in every part of the raft (an inflated boat) for balance and control. Unity is the key to avoid tipping over the raft. Without this, you’ll end-up falling into the water or between boulders of rock with the rest of the group. Helmets, life vests, paddles, and your navigator’s voice are the most important tools in this sport. Don’t ever dare to cross the rapids without securing those four requisites.Getting Familiarized: Know your Rapids The rapids have several levels or classifications. The international standard for white river rafting has six classifications. Level one is “friendly” while level six is the “most dangerous”, or should we say, life-threatening. The White Water Rapids is divided into three: the easy, medium, and hard. Each lasts for one, three, and six hours, respectively. Some falls could cause the raft to go overboard. This is why it is important to have a navigator who knows the river. Six to seven people are allowed in each raft including your navigator. Multi-tasking is a key element, since you need to paddle and listen to whatever your navigator is saying.

Following the Navigator

The navigator shouts eight commands:
“PADDLE!
HARD PADDLE!
RIGHT PADDLE!
LEFT PADDLE!
EASY PADDLE!
HOLD THE LIFE LINE!
LOCK YOUR FEET!
STOP PADDLE!”

The navigator is the boss, and all you need to do is follow him without any complaints to hold on to your dear life. As passenger, you need to maneuver your way along the rapids or in between rocks. From time to time you will hear different instructions like PADDLE RIGHT that means only the people seated at the right side of the raft will paddle and PADDLE LEFT which implies that only the ones seated on the left side will paddle. STOP PADDLING means you’ll just go with the flow of the rapids.

Rafting is a rigorous sport. You should give yourself a resounding “HIGH FIVE!” after every bump on the raging water. Rafting is a great way to let loose of those nerves, and feel the exhilaration of a true water sport.

**Published in The Knight, 2010