This nautical activity of mountain rafting has become one of the extreme and emerging experiences in outdoor sports. It is an individual activity in which the client feels part of the river.
Hydrospeed has carved a niche for itself among the emerging outdoor activities as an intrepid experience with only the need for a water sled and the power of the river. As such, it has become one of the most popular outdoor activities to emerge in recent years.
This is an individual adventure activity aimed at people in good physical condition who wish to live an extreme experience of descending the river. It requires the use of an aerodynamic board that is placed on the chest and on which the descent is made in rough waters. Like a surfboard cut in the middle, it is made of polyurethane and is usually one metre long and 60 centimetres wide.
Despite the obvious difficulties involved in this practice, the handling of the board is very simple and intuitive and the learning curve is very fast. The objective: to use the force of the river to descend through it, avoiding rocks and all kinds of obstacles by means of body manoeuvres, until you reach the end of the course. The navigator steers the board where he wants it to go thanks to the impulse of his legs, which is the only part of the body that remains submerged in the water.
Another of the particularities of this sport is that it is an exclusive and personalised activity that can be carried out throughout the river season, from March to October. The sailor has the possibility of constantly interacting with the river as if he were part of it, always in the presence of a monitor who guides him along the route.
One of the main centres of attraction for this discipline in Spain is the centre located in the Noguera Pallaresa (Catalonia) of RocRoi, one of the leading companies in southern Europe in the organisation of outdoor sports experiences.
The company concentrates all its activity in this discipline in the bases of Llavorsí Pirineos and the new UR Pirineos centre in Murillo de Gállego. In fact, the former is RocRoi’s central base in the heart of the Noguera Pallaresa, one of the best rivers in southern Europe for activities such as hydrospeed and rafting, among others.
Due to the increased interest in this discipline, the company has tripled the number of hydrospeed activities in just a few months. Initially, they offered a 9 km route from the RocRoi base to the Illa, a place where the Noguera Pallaresa forks and creates a small island between the two branches of the river. This extreme activity is also offered with a gastronomic service with a barbecue at the base at the end of the descent.
Among the new options are the one that goes from the base to Moleta (3 km), the one that goes from the Yeti Emotions base to Moleta (4.5 km) and the one from Murillo de Gállego that starts from the UR base itself (5 km).
The new RocRoi centre also organises rafting descents. Located in the Reino de Mallos, in the Aragonese pre-Pyrenees, in addition to hydrospeed, it offers other activities such as canyoning, rafting and canoeing, mountain sports, climbing and hiking, among others.
UPDATED 15/02/2024
