Official world rafting governing body
Basing himself in the southern nations of the African continent, Andrew Kellett is no stranger to action and adventure on the amazing rivers of the world. Andrew’s enthusiasm for rafting, especially with regard to training, stems from the ultimate goal of being safe on the water before any other outcome. When he first started rafting, there was
With an international background and upbringing worthy of a UN Ambassador, Yann Coppen shares his passion for rafting with us. African born with French, Indonesian and Dutch blood, Yann began his journey in the northern part of Japan. After years of travelling and guiding abroad, he discovered the High Atlas Mountains and started to run
Notes from a IRF GTE workshop in Russia One thing I have observed over the years is that all great white water stories normally start with the sentence “This crazy Russian paddler … ” or “Crazy Russian inner-tube rafts.” I sat back and giggled to myself as my short flight from Helsinki touched down at
IRF Instructor workshop – Bosnia 2018 I had been following the weather in Bosnia for a week prior to the start of the workshop. The forecast did not look good unless you were going skiing, lots of snow was forecast. So I pre-warned the course students to prepare for cold weather. This was going to
By Mark Hirst I am commonly advised from reliable sources that British kayaker Peter Knowles introduced throwbags to the market on a wide scale with his green slime throwbags back in the 1980s. Before this time people made their own throwbags ranging from rope stored in an empty plastic bottle to a tennis ball with
During the fall season of 2018 Lapin Koskikoulu and Paddle Nepal have teamed up to run their first Himalayan River Guide Training Academy. The course will run over 2 months and is open to anybody wishing to travel & explore the rivers of Nepal and learn to become a professional river guide at the same
Iceland 2010 Godafoss waterfall – “Mark fu@k!n go get him!” … Me: “I would if I could bloody see him!” We were a group of kayakers (all raft guides too ) taking a day off and paddling the famous Godafoss Waterfall in Iceland. For those who don’t know Godafoss, it is a horse shoe shaped
As I walked down the steps on to the Tarmac at Leh airport I had that familiar feeling of being short of breath as the altitude hit me. This weeks 7 day International Rafting Federation workshop was to be based at the base camp of Wet ‘n Wild explorations in Nimoo at the altitude of
By Mark Hirst Finally, having been on the road delivering courses since late March, I got to spend some time at home in Finland. June 5th -11th had been in my diary for months for a 7 day IRF Guide Training Program combined with a Rescue 3 Europe Whitewater Rescue Technician Professional course based at