If they're not wearing knee and shin guards I BET they have sore knees!!!! Climbing back on will tear them up if they're not protected. That's funny... lol
They're also raft guides - but try to find a kayaker who says an inflatable kayak is better than a hard shell plastic one.
Also, WHAT board are the raft guides on? Not all boards are good at all things...
Anyway, speaking from experience (and I have a lot
... I find the inflatable boards USEFUL when I'm traveling. Flying to Europe, its easy to take one and use it. But I also know I did extensive back to back testing (first of the Combat against other inflatable boards to get the Combat design right) running the same rapid over and over again on inflatable vs Hard shell, and in EVERY CASE (not one exception) the rapid was 2x easier on the hard shell... easier meaning either 2x more successful staying on/making the line on hard shell, and even when I stayed on the inflatable, it wasn't nearly as smooth, controlled or graceful.
Basically, the inflatable is like doing yoga on a waterbed (and this is on the Combat that's much better than the next best board I tested it against).
Like I said, they have their place (travel) and I use them when I have to, but its by far not my preference when I have the choice.
Fiberglass breaks for sure - Kevlar is pretty darn strong, but it can break eventually too. I've used a kevlar board for an entire season and beat the tar out of it...
Tried several times to run this rapid on Inflatable - never made it once - swam a bunch... sucked. Made it every time on the Streetfighter.
No Problem surfing Plastic...
The Hard shell gives you a "direct contact" feel of the water that is "dulled down" on a board that flex's and reverberates with every wave or water current contact. For me... there is no comparison in control comparing the two.
Conversly, the inflatable (even the Combat which is much stiffer than any other I've tried) bucks you and you end up kneeling far more often.
Inflatable is a constant balancing act...
You see a lot more of this on an inflatable...
I Just don't see this kind of board control/rapid difficulty on inflatables... (loads of photos of people ENTERING rapids on them... but not paddling out the bottom...)
And I certainly don;t see an inflatable doing this...