Clothing for Whitewater Rafting

Video Transcript

"Okay, let’s talk a little bit about rafting gear. This is what I’d like to wear on the river and this is what I wear on the river most of the time, T-shirt, shorts and a pair of sandals. If you’re rafting with this sort of gear on you’ll be out there for a beautiful day, the PFD, the T-shirt gives you a little sun protection. It doesn’t really offer you any warmth, cotton tends to get cold when it's out there, when it’s wet, but on a hot sunny day that’s what you’re looking for. A pair of shorts that drain pretty nicely, pretty quickly, dry off pretty quickly so you’re not continually sitting in wet shorts is a great thing and sandals. If it gets a little chiller out there, there are shorts that are designed to keep you a little warmer. These have a nice neoprene inside and so they start to keep this area a little warmer while you’re out there and then you can start to think a little bit about a synthetic T-shirt. This thing will dry quickly when it gets wet, the fibers don’t collapse inside a T-shirt made of this sort of a fabric, they continue to insulate you a little bit. So this is a good thing to wear on a slightly cooler day. And if things start to turn a little colder still, then you can start to think about keeping the legs warm. When you’re rafting you tend to get splashed a lot across the lower portion of your body, so having a nice pair of fleece pants under your shorts is a nice way to start to keep yourself warm, these are great. You also have some hydroskin, which is a step closer to a wet suit. This can keep you a little warmer still offers you a little wind protection while you’re out there and insulates you while it’s wet which is a great thing to have. You can consider tops, a nice long sleeved top when it starts to get colder, has fleece here. This is designed to continue to be maneuverable while you’re paddling. You’ve got a nice core layer here that keeps you warm right though the core, this is what you’re looking for, nice and comfortable around the neck. You also can have a thin skin here, a thin skin again, is a form fitting top so that you can wear it while you’re out there and it fits nicely under jackets, nicely under a paddle jacket. Or another top so you can wear this and layer over with a, something like this which is just slightly less form fitting and a little baggier and between the two that can keep you quite warm on a nice cool day and that’s fifty degrees or so, "