European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 5, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                It looks dangerous but rafting experts Lay on Rifle Factor of their port i Tutu Mim at Many . A whiff of White water danger f by Lena Williams new York times or Relief from the heal the pollution. The Beeper the office copier try Silling with a group of total strangers in the Middle of a churning River Hal drops hundreds of Leet in minutes. Gone a Shang has turned into gone White Waler rating As millions of americans Retreat from ins ills of summer to 1ho currents of America s fiercest and most Scenic while Waters. This year s White water rafting trips will probably exceed the 2 million of 1987, according to the two main rafting operators associations. Ten years ago 25,000 trips were taken the sport Long popular in the Middle West and on the West coast is now attracting a new clientele of City dwellers especially from the East coast. It has gained extra Appeal As an alternative to fouled beaches. Tour operators say the sport has distinct regional styles. Many trips on Eastern fivers take five to six hours. Conclude with a Steak or Sroul dinner and gel people Home in Lime to return Telephone messages. There were 800,000 such trips last year. Western trips tend to be expeditions of 3 to 14 Days often including hiking Mountain climbing fishing and camping in places where it is impossible to can the office. River outfitters and other Industry experts Nave several explanations for the popularity of Ratling. Trips Are fairly inexpensive ranging from $16 to $100 a Day including meals and equipment. New rafts can accommodate More people More comitor ably than previous models. They Are rapidly inflatable and can bail themselves out making obsolete a chore normally done by hand with a bucket. Beyond Hal. The exports say there is nothing like a whirl of danger to make people Happy. People Are fearful of the while water rapids because they be never done it  said Jay Schurman. Who founded Unicorn rafting expeditions in Northern Maine in 1972. He was convinced then he says now that rating would catch on. So Tat this year his company has taken 10,000 people on rafting trips As against 300 in All o 1979. He said once you do it you can l help but feel Good about yourself. It brings strangers  the danger can be real. Last year 15 rafters Ell overboard and drowned 11 of them in British Columbia. These were the most fatalities recorded in a single year in the history of commercial railing. Ratting operators say the sport is no riskier than Many others. There have been 13 skiing deals in Colorado alone in the past three or Lour years said Tom Ellis director of marketing for the Western River guide association a Trade group of commercial outfitters. That compares with two commercial deaths in White water ratting in Colorado since 1969. Most of the danger comes from people who bib trying Todo it on Bier  nevertheless More and More slates have begun to regulate the Industry requiring thai outfitters and professional guides be licensed and restricting the numbers of Ratts in use and the times of Day rafting is allowed. It s not All White Knuckles though. A brochure irom Sierra Mac River trips which conducts three Day excursions Down the Tuolumne River in Northern California. Includes a menu of exquisite goods and wines. It s a great Way to see the wilderness with a guide that will carry All your Stull fix your meals and give you an interpretation of the River said Marty Mcdonnell owner of Sierra Mac. We re like a Mobile restaurant and amusement  some people even Sorgel they Are in a wilderness. We be had people come Here and ask it there was any Way they could Telephone choir office said Mcdonnell who tells his clients that once Hoy arrived they re on fiver Lime no watches needed. When we Tell them no Way you got Hal sinking feeling that they re going to turn around and go Back a said. Well we Haven t lost one  All this brings predict Lilc scorn from people who see rating As just the latest fad a cushy form of the style of Adventura Hal has so captivated corporate managers in recent years. No doubt it s a Way to impress your Boas and your friends said David Brown executive director of Iha Eastern professional River Gulf alters which is made up of 78 companies Hal provide rafting services irom Canada to Costa Rica. It makes a statement that Here is a person willing to Lake risks Bui other enthusiasts say they 1ind railing much More democratic than say. Sailing or skiing. For one thing no skills Are required not even swimming Iha operators say. For another everyone looks a Little weird in tile vests and on difficult Rivers helmets. Erma Bombeck i just bought out son a Book on How to decorate your first apartment what kind of a Molher would boy her son such a Book you ask the same stupid Mother who sent him Oil Loco lege Wilh an umbrella who put name tags in his pyjamas for Camp. Who packed cares in school lunches. Who gave him an extra handkerchief for the prom. That s who my husband said he needs a decorating Book like television needs another rerun i Loid him my idea is just to gel him set with a master plan so he won t go Oul and buy 15 periods of furniture and assorted colors and end up with a mishmash of Eclectic pieces thai Don t begin to make a  he looked Al me a full minute before a responded. To has Roaches that move the total that makes a statement he thumbed through the pages of the Page 16 the stars and stripes monday september 5,19b8 Book and asked. What s an armoire you  i said it s one of those huge wardrobes Hal take up a whole Wal and you hang things in it says Here they Cost $3.000, but it s a Good investment to Start you  that makes sense i said. If the kid had $3.000 to spend he d live in the armoire with tour other Guys. You never learn do you t knew without listening he was going to bring up the Liberia Story. He had told in so Many times Al parties i could lip sync in without missing a word. A s the Liberia Story All Over  he said. I Don t want to hear  what other Molher do you know would Send her son a Crock pol in the peace corps in Iho boonies of Africa i did t know hey did t Nave electricity where he was i said Lii edly. And while we re on the subject i was t the one who gave him a tool Box when he got his first  everyone ought to have a tool Box in his car he said. It just makes Good  the Only thing he used was a wrench to gel the lop Oil a bottle of Orange crush to put in his Radiator when it boiled Over we Don l know that for sure i think we re dealing with a generation thing 1 said. There s nothing we can do to Slop him from furnishing his apartment Wilh beaded room dividers and evolving mood lamps with a fake Fountain that changes colors.  an existence without one Laura Ashley print. I d have to live with that