Whitewater Rafting Safety Tips

If you are new to the activity of whitewater rafting, there is a good chance that you are both nervous and excited. Whitewater rafting can be tremendously fun, but there are some dangers that you have to watch out for. Follow these tips to increase your safety in order to make the trip as enjoyable as possible.

1. Wear Your Life Jacket and Make Sure it Fits

Your first step is to actually bother to wear your life jacket. Some people prefer not to wear a life jacket or any other flotation device due to the fact that it hinders their movement. This is no excuse. If your life jacket is significantly hindering your movement to the point where you are unable to actually enjoy yourself, then you are not wearing the correct life jacket for your situation. You might have one that is too large or too small. You might just not have all of the clips and snaps fastened, which binds the life jacket closer to your body, making it more streamlined so that you can move around without as much trouble. Be sure that you go to a rafting professional to actually fit you for your life jacket if it is your first time buying one or if you are renting one.

2. Wear Your Helmet

Although you and everyone with you is going to do their best to make sure that you don't tip out of the raft, there's a chance that it might happen. Make sure that you're wearing your helmet so that if your raft tips over or if you fall out, it will be a mild inconvenience, rather than an actual problem. Your helmet will prevent you from accidentally getting concussed should you fall out of your raft near some rocks and hit your head.

3. Hold Your Paddle Safely

Finally, you need to make sure that you are in full control of your paddle at all times. This means holding it properly and safely. You want to put one hand on the flat base of the paddle in order to make sure that it doesn't go flying out of your hand. You want the other hand to be in the middle of the shaft of the paddle in order to give you more control over its movements. This will allow you to make sure that you don't accidentally lose control of your paddle and hit someone with it. 

For more information, talk to a company that specializes in river rafting.