History of acqua ride
Acqua ride is a Brazilian white water sport, where the participant lies down in a prone position on an individual inflatable boat using his/her arms and hands as a paddle, wearing webbed gloves. Play with inner tubes in the rivers rapids has been very popular everywhere in Brazil, among children and adults. In 1983 - It was organized the first acqua ride championship in PE
TAR (Parque Estadual e Turistico do Alto Ribeira) in Iporanga, Sao Paulo. It was the kick of acqua ride as sport. After that, every Easter PETAR hold an annual event, bringing the needs to produce equipment and develop techniques of the sport. In the 1980´s- was created a colourful cover for the inner tubes with handles, gloves and other protections like helmets, knee and shin pads, and buoyance aid were introduced as acqua ride started getting more professional. This equipment also gave more confidence to the participants to challenge and explore bigger rivers. During 1997 – ABAR (Acqua Ride Brazilian Association) was created with the aim to organise and develop the sport across Brazil applying the techniques and safety. Working along ABAR was Acqua Ride Equipment & Expeditions, the specialised operator of the sport and equipment, who trained many acqua riders to compete, to work in the tourism sector or just for leisure. It also created the best equipment for competition and tourism. CBCa (Brazilian Canoeing Confederation) and FPCa (Sao Paulo Canoeing Federation) recognised acqua ride as a sport of the white waters. Annual Brazilian circuits were hold every year since than in locations where there were a group of people practicing the sport or where the tourist of acqua ride was running and local business were interested in taking part. Competitors across the country are still gathering for these competitions.
2000- Acqua ride Equipment designed the first hydrodynamic inflatable acqua ride boat, and until now has improved the shape of it. Since 2005 - Acqua ride is being promoted across Europe in countries like Italy, Portugal, France, Spain, Slovenia, among others. In 2015- acqua ride was allowed to be practiced at Lee Valley White water Centre, London and it is being negotiated to be introduced as an adventure tourism and courses for anyone who is interested to learn or just practice it in the UK.
