Raftsman Martin Sprang is holding a laminated display board featuring drawings of tree shapes, which could be used to specifically identify crooked trees in the forest. Traditional timber shipbuilding required, above all, ‘crooked timber’, whose grain follows the curve – usually oak, which is up to ten times more expensive than straight timber and is loaded onto the raft as additional cargo. Spreng, chairman of the German Rafting Association, is demonstrating the historic Black Forest rafting tradition at the Monhardter Wasserstube near Altensteig, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Rafting has been