Learn to Row… become a private rafter…
I invite you to come and learn the magic of running rivers in a mini raft on one of the many rivers in the Swiss Alps. We have designed a number of courses that can be either one or two days long depending on whether you are a kayaker or a complete beginner to white water.
Become an Oarsman: One Day.
This is a workshop designed for anybody that all ready loves the river and goes regularly to kayak, SUP, canoe or packraft. Here we teach you how to rig a raft with a frame and how to row. We then head off down river to test our skills and have some fun.
R1 & R2 Rafters: Two Days.
This is a two day workshop that teaches you how to paddle a raft by yourself or with your partner. R1 and R2ing a raft gives you the ability to paddle your mini raft down some steep creek style rivers. If your already a canoeist you would pick this up in a day. During this course we teach the different paddle strokes that you need to navigate your raft through white water. This workshop is designed for either complete beginners or kayakers.
Beginners Oarsman: Two days.
This workshop is designed for the complete beginner to white water and river running. We start from scratch, teaching you how to inflate and rig a raft. We teach you how to read white water and how to row your raft with style down rapids. If you are a complete beginner then you will need to participate in the Intermediate Oarsman's workshop.
Intermediate Oarsman: Two Days
This workshop is a follow on workshop from the beginners Oarsman's workshop. We will scout rapids and talk about the different lines through the white water and we work on techniques of breaking in and out of eddies, ferry's and more interesting stuff.
River Rescues for Rafters: Two Days
We love teaching this course and we spend the two days swimming in the river, flipping boats, wrapping boats and playing around with rescue systems. Its a great workshop full of very useful information for both the complete novice or an expert kayaker.
Multi Day Rafting: Two to Four Days.
This is such a fun workshop although its better when we have lots of time so we can actually go and make a multi day trip. We have been running this workshop over in Morocco for raft guides and kayakers that are keen to move into expedition style multi day trips. We basically teach you all you need to know about planning and organizing a multi day river trip. We actually recomend this workshop over four days so we can cover all the theory in the 1st couple of days and then go and camp out over the 2nd couple of days.
Refresher Workshop: One Day
This one day workshop is designed for anyone that is already a rafter or an oarsman and you have been off the water for some time, so we guide you down the river and brush up your strokes to make you feel comfortable again.
Become an Oarsman: One Day.
This is a workshop designed for anybody that all ready loves the river and goes regularly to kayak, SUP, canoe or packraft. Here we teach you how to rig a raft with a frame and how to row. We then head off down river to test our skills and have some fun.
R1 & R2 Rafters: Two Days.
This is a two day workshop that teaches you how to paddle a raft by yourself or with your partner. R1 and R2ing a raft gives you the ability to paddle your mini raft down some steep creek style rivers. If your already a canoeist you would pick this up in a day. During this course we teach the different paddle strokes that you need to navigate your raft through white water. This workshop is designed for either complete beginners or kayakers.
Beginners Oarsman: Two days.
This workshop is designed for the complete beginner to white water and river running. We start from scratch, teaching you how to inflate and rig a raft. We teach you how to read white water and how to row your raft with style down rapids. If you are a complete beginner then you will need to participate in the Intermediate Oarsman's workshop.
Intermediate Oarsman: Two Days
This workshop is a follow on workshop from the beginners Oarsman's workshop. We will scout rapids and talk about the different lines through the white water and we work on techniques of breaking in and out of eddies, ferry's and more interesting stuff.
River Rescues for Rafters: Two Days
We love teaching this course and we spend the two days swimming in the river, flipping boats, wrapping boats and playing around with rescue systems. Its a great workshop full of very useful information for both the complete novice or an expert kayaker.
Multi Day Rafting: Two to Four Days.
This is such a fun workshop although its better when we have lots of time so we can actually go and make a multi day trip. We have been running this workshop over in Morocco for raft guides and kayakers that are keen to move into expedition style multi day trips. We basically teach you all you need to know about planning and organizing a multi day river trip. We actually recomend this workshop over four days so we can cover all the theory in the 1st couple of days and then go and camp out over the 2nd couple of days.
Refresher Workshop: One Day
This one day workshop is designed for anyone that is already a rafter or an oarsman and you have been off the water for some time, so we guide you down the river and brush up your strokes to make you feel comfortable again.
Oarsman Courses
We offer seven different courses to learn how to become a private rafter. Each course has a different program depending on the subject we are learning but the basic program for each course is stated below.
Day One:
Our instructors at Mini Rafts Europe are professional raft guides that have a minimum of 10 years’ experience in river running.
Location of the course:
We run the majority of our beginner courses from our meeting point at Reichenau on the banks of the Vorder Rhine. For more Advance courses we tend to play on the Inn river in Engadin and we base ourselves from the Buvetta café. We are happy to run courses in different locations in Switzerland for a full group of 4 people. The Bernese Oberland, Geneva, Ticino.
Although the food and accommodation is not included in the cost of the course we are able to recommend you the nice places to stay in the local areas where we run the courses.
Reservations:
Simply contact our office by phone or e mail and we will make a plan.
Payments:
You can either pay in Cash on the day of your course or you can make a bank transfer to our account. Let us know and we can send you our bank details.
See you on the river…
We offer seven different courses to learn how to become a private rafter. Each course has a different program depending on the subject we are learning but the basic program for each course is stated below.
Day One:
- Meet and greet at a designated location.
- Theory session on a specific subject.
- River Shuttles. We organize for our cars to be at the finish point of the river.
- Time to get changed into river gear.
- Lunch.
- River Trip working on skills.
- Debrief of the day.
- Meet at designated location.
- Theory class.
- River shuttles.
- Change to river gear.
- River Trip working on skills.
- Lunch on the river.
- River trip working on skills.
- Debrief of course.
- End of course.
- All the necessary equipment from rafts, oars, paddles, pumps, first aid kits, rescue kits, repair kits etc,
- All the necessary personal equipment, wetsuit, socks, spray jacket, PFD, helmet. (We recommend that you bring your own equipment but if you do not have, please let us know your sizes.)
- Two days of instruction from one of our highly experienced river professionals.
- Information handouts on all you are learning.
- River Snacks.
- Certificate of participation.
- A thermal layer to wear under your wetsuit.
- A pair of old running shoes that you don’t mind getting wet.
- A pack lunch for each day as we will picnic at the side of the river.
- Please note that we use your vehicle for making river shuttles so that we have our dry clothes at the take out.
- Personal accident insurance.
Our instructors at Mini Rafts Europe are professional raft guides that have a minimum of 10 years’ experience in river running.
Location of the course:
We run the majority of our beginner courses from our meeting point at Reichenau on the banks of the Vorder Rhine. For more Advance courses we tend to play on the Inn river in Engadin and we base ourselves from the Buvetta café. We are happy to run courses in different locations in Switzerland for a full group of 4 people. The Bernese Oberland, Geneva, Ticino.
Although the food and accommodation is not included in the cost of the course we are able to recommend you the nice places to stay in the local areas where we run the courses.
Reservations:
Simply contact our office by phone or e mail and we will make a plan.
Payments:
You can either pay in Cash on the day of your course or you can make a bank transfer to our account. Let us know and we can send you our bank details.
See you on the river…
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Rowing R4
What is a Private Rafter?
The sport of white water rafting in Europe is only known as a commercial activity, where you book through an operator and join a group for a fun trip down a section of river, but who’s to say that you can’t do it by yourself.
In actual fact, the sport started with one man and his boat exploring rivers in the same way you would with a kayak, canoe, SUP or any other craft. At some point the man realized that he could break away from the rat race and make a business doing what he loved by taking clients with him and so commercial rafting was born.
But this is about getting out there on a river in your own small boat by yourself, with your partner or your best mate and simply enjoy the wilderness and white water for yourselves. A private Rafter is someone that either rows or paddles down the river. If you are rowing you are known as an Oarsman or boatman and if you paddle the raft you are known as R1. If you are two people paddling the raft you are known as R2 and if you are 4 people in a raft you are known as R4.
A river trip is one of the few ways to get off the beaten track and immerse you into total nature. You make long lasting friends that you’ll always share incredible memories with and on top of this you will find peace in mind, body and spirit as you find that soul connection. Join us on one of our multi day trips and see for yourself.
Who can be a rafter?
Anybody that loves the river as much as we do, Kayakers, SUP paddlers, canoeists, Rafters and anyone that just wants to get out into nature and get away from the day-to-day grind.
The sport of white water rafting in Europe is only known as a commercial activity, where you book through an operator and join a group for a fun trip down a section of river, but who’s to say that you can’t do it by yourself.
In actual fact, the sport started with one man and his boat exploring rivers in the same way you would with a kayak, canoe, SUP or any other craft. At some point the man realized that he could break away from the rat race and make a business doing what he loved by taking clients with him and so commercial rafting was born.
But this is about getting out there on a river in your own small boat by yourself, with your partner or your best mate and simply enjoy the wilderness and white water for yourselves. A private Rafter is someone that either rows or paddles down the river. If you are rowing you are known as an Oarsman or boatman and if you paddle the raft you are known as R1. If you are two people paddling the raft you are known as R2 and if you are 4 people in a raft you are known as R4.
A river trip is one of the few ways to get off the beaten track and immerse you into total nature. You make long lasting friends that you’ll always share incredible memories with and on top of this you will find peace in mind, body and spirit as you find that soul connection. Join us on one of our multi day trips and see for yourself.
Who can be a rafter?
Anybody that loves the river as much as we do, Kayakers, SUP paddlers, canoeists, Rafters and anyone that just wants to get out into nature and get away from the day-to-day grind.
Apart from teaching people how to row, Alex also teaches on courses for the different organizations below as either an instructor or assessor.
