Urban whitewater
Take a ride on the wild side

by Alexander H. Haislip

Renee Clough does all she can to keep her rubber boat afloat. Navigating around submerged boulders, she wrestles with the rushing current and calls commands to her crew in a calm voice that carries just above the din of the white water. Clough, a guide for Richmond Raft Co., spends summer days leading groups down the challenging lower section of the James River.

Yet the setting is hardly anything out of the film “Deliverance,” in which four men take a deadly river trip through the craggy mountains of northern Georgia. The James cuts through a canyon of a different kind — through the skyscrapers of downtown Richmond. The Federal Reserve Bank rises 24 stories, a white monolith against a blue sky. Nearby, the red-stone Riverfront Towers stand like a pair of grandfather clocks. On the right, a Southern States refinery provides an industrial contrast to the office buildings. Despite the incongruous urban setting, Richmond’s rapids offer some of the best whitewater on the East Coast.

Taking advantage of this natural splendor, Richmond Raft Co. offers trips that range in difficulty and duration. As many as 6,000 adventurers each year begin their excursions on the river at the company’s headquarters, a teal-blue garage of a former Crown gas station, just east of downtown. Many corporations look to rafting as a way for employees to relax, enjoy themselves and learn to work together. “It’s perfect for us,” says Jim Farruggio, an area director for Applebee’s International. “The restaurant business can be stressful. We meet with our associate managers in the morning and then enjoy an afternoon together on the river. Last year we did it twice, but this year we’re planning to do three trips.”

Buzz Kraft, owner of Richmond Raft, says groups enjoy the intimate setting of a thirteen-foot, six-person boat and benefit from working together to navigate the rough waters. Kraft also owns and operates Adventure Challenge, a company that offers kayaking and tubing on the James as well as coastal kayaking and snow sports. “You could go to a big amusement park and have one employee herd 1,000 people through a day. We give you a personal experience with an expert rafter.” Fees for this personal experience are $48 per person on weekdays and $52 per person on weekends, with groups paying a lower rate.

The guides are a big help when it comes to level IV rapids. Rapids are rated from I to VI with ratings based on the amount of water that flows through the rapid, the technical expertise required to steer through it and the danger involved. Most of the trips on the James consist of level II and III rapids, which are exciting without being nerve-racking.

In between the rapids, guides share their knowledge of local history, regional wildlife and safety. When a raft floats by Belle Isle, Clough explains how the island served as a prisoner-of-war camp for captured federal troops during the Civil War. Past the Hollywood rapids, named for the nearby cemetery, Clough points to a nest in a bare tree. “See the osprey?” she asks, smiling a broad, conspiratorial smile. “Once we had a group of city kids. I told them that each morning we went out on the water early and set up the birds for the tours that day.” The corners of her lips start to curl. “They believed me.” Laughter from the boat vibrates off the bottom of the Manchester Bridge.

Rafting in Richmond has a different feel from the big whitewater outfitters on the New and Gauley rivers in West Virginia. Despite yearly revenues of around $250,000, Kraft’s Richmond Raft Co. has a decidedly shoestring feel to it. Compare the low-budget outfitting center and rickety buses to the fashionably rugged feel of the ACE Outdoor Center in West Virginia, which advertises itself as “Your 1,300-Acre Private Park.” Besides rafting, ACE offers camping, rock climbing and tours of Thurmond, a restored mining and railroad town.
Richmond Raft doesn’t have the variety of activities offered by a mega-park like the New River Gorge National Park, where you can catch whitewater in the morning and rock-climb up dramatic outcrops above the gorge in the afternoon. In the world of rafting resorts, Richmond Raft Co. is the microbrew of whitewater: fun, affordable and full of local flavor.

Some days are better than others. If the river is low, as it is now, the rapids are tame. Clough encourages visitors to come when the river’s water level hits five feet. “Anything over five gets exciting,” she says. During a recent trip nobody seemed to mind the river’s low water level. After all, a leisurely day spent on the water beats slaving away at the office. And as Clough points out, “Richmond is only one of two major cities that you can raft down the middle of. The other is Anchorage, Alaska.” Given the choice, why not stay close to home?

For more information, contact Richmond Raft Co. at 222-7238, or (800) 540-7238. The company’s Web site, www.richmondraft.com, lists times, fees and age limits for its trips, including a family trip on the calmer part of the river.

Return to Virginia Business - August 2002