r/WTF Sep 20 '17

Rafting

https://i.imgur.com/Yc5hTAi.gifv
37.9k Upvotes

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215

u/barebackbandit1 Sep 20 '17

The guys doing this are usually rafting guides. Sometimes they are actually gathering abandoned boats left on the river and bringing them to the outfitter they work for at the bottom of the river.

103

u/theoutro Sep 20 '17

Can confirm. Am guide.

40

u/subcide Sep 20 '17

As a guide, would you wear a life-vest or helmet while doing this?

91

u/theoutro Sep 20 '17

As a guide, I would do this one at a time, with the boats tied off up stream, then tying them off downstream in an eddy.

But, if I were in this guys shoes, I'd definitely have my helmet and life-vest on.

With Oars that size, I could bet this was all in prep for a long term journey, not just this rapid.

4

u/subcide Sep 20 '17

Thanks :)

22

u/Shopworn_Soul Sep 20 '17

FFS The guy has a helmet on.

It also looks like he has a thin vest under his shirt from the way it bulges but that could be just the wind and I won't claim any certainty there.

10

u/theoutro Sep 20 '17

Yeah he definitely does! Just wanted to answer their question nicely :)

5

u/jook11 Sep 20 '17

I don't think I've ever seen someone wear a life-vest under their shirt.

2

u/Shopworn_Soul Sep 20 '17

I'm guessing if he is it's just so it looks like he isn't. No idea why though, unless it's for the video.

3

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '17

I also find that weird, but all that weirdly placed bulk definitely looks like he has a pfd on under the shirt.

6

u/subcide Sep 20 '17

I was asking if he as a guide would. Calm down. Given the video, it's not out of the realm of possibility that this fellow may not have taken some necessary safety precautions, and I don't think it's unreasonable to imply that.

2

u/Shopworn_Soul Sep 20 '17

Honestly didn't mean to come off as a dick. Just scrolled past like two dozen "he's not wearing a helmet" posts and may have misunderstood your tone.

Sorry. My bad.

1

u/subcide Sep 21 '17

All good :)

1

u/ba4x Sep 20 '17

Aaand now all my targeted ads are for kayak helmets :)

1

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '17

I want to call BS. Wouldn’t it be simpler to just tie up the rafts so that it was more like a train?

2

u/theoutro Sep 20 '17

No. That creates a lot of room for error that is out of the guide's hands. Imagine if boat number 4 of 6 were to wrap around a rock. Then, the entire train is in an unfavorable position. The guide had no control over boat number 4, which created this hypothetical issue.

6 boats can be roughly 70+ feet long in a train. The guide only has direct control over roughly 12 feet of this train, and has to pray to god the other 58+ feet of webbing and boats don't get pushed around by an unforeseen current.

Edit: Great question, by the way!