A group of 8 vehicles assembled at Keith Anderson's Happy Valley
property on Sunday 17th April to learn all about recovery
techniques.
Drivers present were Richard Eaton, Carl Harris, Lynne Thorne,
Hilary Blundell, Lurch, Jim McMahon, Mike Murphy and Joe, and Warren
Blake. The whole idea of the day was to give newer club members an
understanding and practice with using various recovery
techniques. This is the next step on from the basic learners day
course and basically assumes you alleady know how to drive a 4wd
vehicle safely thru moderate off road terrain. (that's what they teach
you at the learners day!)
To achieve this objective the 8 students were broken up into 3
groups- which obviously meant very small learning groups and
maximum hands on experience.
The three groups and their instructors were as follows:
a) Bill Knowles took the subject of snatch blocks (Return Pulleys)
- how to set up safely
- how the mechanical advatage worked and can be calculated
- how to use snig chain to slightly shorten a rope
- how to tie a bowline knot to shorten ropes (and still be able to untie it later)
- how to join two ropes using a small wooden stick
b) Peter Watson (Jackson) and Scotty handled the power winching demo:
- how to set up safely -- gloves, danger zones etc.
- practice at working the remote controls
- how to use tree protectors
- a handout briefing on the 15 key safety hints for using winches
- setting up and using return pulleys to halve the load
c) Ray Warne and Stuart Robinson handled the manual winching
- how to set up and use a Tirfor type winch
- the use of return pulleys to change the towing direction
- how to set up and use a high lift jack as a short reach winch
- how to use a high lift jack to lift a vehicle and its limitations etc.
- the insatallation and use of Ground Anchors.
d) Bob Dickinson gave the group a briefing on river recoveries
- how to pick a safe crossing point
- how to set up and prepare for a serious river crossing
- the importance of prepared back up tow vehicles
- the importance of ropes that actually stayed on the tow hook
- the need for some lucky person to get wet.
After all this practice and enlightenment the session finished
early afternoon and we all went home a little wiser. Its a pity
the attendance numbers were so low .
Bob Dickinson
|
Past club trips 
