Outfitting your Raft for Whitewater Rafting

Video Transcript

"We’re going to talk a little bit about outfitting your raft, let’s look at how this raft’s outfitted here. The chicken lines that run along the outside of the raft, if you are on the way out of the boat for any reason, you can grab hold of this and that keeps you close to the raft and hopefully your crew can pull you back in. Also if you’re rafting and you’re sitting inside the raft, if you’re uncomfortable, you can hold on the outside, and hold on the inside too, and that way you have a pretty secure spot in the boat. These we have inside the ports so you can hold on when you’re uncomfortable in the water and have them upfront too. Used to have a bow line or stern line, we tend to have most of our boats outfitted with a stern line, which is right on the back of the boat here. This is tucked up on the outside of the boat out of the way, so that there are less entrapment possibilities. The stern line is usually about the length of the boat and it's used to tie the raft up whenever you stop. And then you need to make sure that your oars put it back away so it's out of the way so you’re not dragging the line. You can daisy chain the rope so that it's out of your way and there’s less."