International Rafting Federation

Who are the IRF?

The International Rafting Federation (IRF) is acknowledged as the official world rafting governing body overseeing rafting. Since 1997, their mission has been to support the worldwide rafting community, including sports, recreation, commercial ventures, as well as environmental and sustainability organizations. We have been working with the IRF since 2014 to become the leading guide school for the IRF in the UK and in March 2022 we were the first internationally recognised ROA, you can read more about our achievements here.

How does the scheme work?

The IRF pathway offers a wide range of courses depending on the crafts you wish to guide/ trip lead, the assessment process is standardised for each of the awards and you achieve the award at each level from class 2-4(5) including site-specific.

Workshops

Each workshop creates a learning environment to build the core skills needed around becoming or progressing through your guiding and trip leader journey. There is a mixture of practical and theoretical sessions and scenarios to help consolidate your learning.

Assessment

You can be assessed by a qualified IRF instructor at a level you have worked towards, before your assessment you must be 18 years old, hold a valid 8-hour first aid (including CPR) certificate, and present a full logbook of your guiding/ trip-leading experience. You will be assessed on the following areas; safety brief, guiding/ trip leading skills, white water swimming, ropework skill, flip test and throwbag test.

You can find some instructional videos about the assessment process here.

International Rafting Federation Activities List

IRF Raft Guide Workshop

This workshop is designed for people looking to become a Raft Guide.

The main focus of the course is to build core skills and knowledge to set you up for success in your guiding career.

IRF Whitewater Guide Workshop

This workshop looks at the skills needed to guide/ lead a group in a whitewater environment.

The workshop will go into detail on how to guide a group of self-steering whitewater craft, this is split into two categories, with or without a paddle.

IRF instructor workshop

This workshop is for people looking to become an International Rafting Federation (IRF) Instructor which is widely recognised as the world standard. IRF Instructors can deliver Guide Training and Education Programme (GTE) and assess guides and trip leaders.

IRF Safety Kayak Workshop

This workshop teaches you how to provide safety cover from your kayak during raft trips.

The workshop will cover plenty of tasks to help prepare you for any scenario on a raft trip. The workshop will cover all emergency and rescue techniques as well as theoretical learning and understanding of river hydrology, leadership, signals and safety briefing.