Training Day

This Training Day had been recommended to me by various members of the club, as a "must do" for me as a new member, so I duly showed up at 9.45am, 15 minutes late(sorry guys) at the venue in the Port, with 2 boys in tow (my boy Rowan and his friend Brandon).

We were about 12 trainees with a variety of vehicles and experience. Even though I found what Ray had to say very interesting, this was not reflected by the boys who decided Sunday was not a day to be in the classroom, so I dropped them down the road for an hour of something better!
Ray and Lindsay took us through a broad range of safety issues from the club's training booklet, to do with vehicle safety, how to approach different types of hazards and some dangerous situations that can arise including recovery but excluding winch use. They included three videos about what to do, and what could happen if things go wrong. Lindsay showed us what is necessary to carry in the vehicle and all about them, and all the things he finds useful to carry as well, demonstrating that as long as he's on the trip we'll all be right! And yes I have some more shopping to do. The final video was a short amateur video of what can happen when the driver uses the clutch at the point of loss of traction on a long steep slippery ascent, just as I did 2 weeks ago at the Clark Trophy day. The landrover rolled 7 times. Oops.

At 12.30 we left for Happy Valley Adventures in Cable Bay, and I collected the boys again. We were having lunch when a splinter group from the 4WD club passed through, including Tracey and Sav and other faces I know but have lost their names. Tracey told me they were taking the "olds" for an outing! Peter joined us, and Lindsay suggested I might like to write the day up for the website. Soon we were off through the river (Brandon's 1st time driving through water), and we arrived at the club's training circuit. Ray explained how the afternoon would go, and then we walked the whole circuit, with explanations from him of different hazards, and what to look out for. He also made it clear that everything was voluntary. I felt sorry for all the tadpoles(with legs) in the bog, that was soon to be part of our course.

For a couple of hours we navigated around the course, learning and enjoying, with Ray and Lindsay and Peter's guidance. I found the stalled hill climb very useful, as it is a technique I have never used before, and clearly reduces the chances of doing what the landrover did in the video. The boys were quite animated at this point, and they later clearly enjoyed the tadpole tidal wave.
At one point a stream of quad bikes came flying through the area we were using, and there seemed to be a slight conflict of interest. There was some fun generated around a narly little hill climb that sorted the men from the boys. After failing at the first fence, Peter suggested I just gun it, well what was I to do! No problem getting up that time, but it wasn't quite in line with the dignified approach put forward by Ray.
Kevin then demonstrated how diff-locks affect traction on this slope. His vehicle just walked up it, but couldn't without the front locks on. He later told me he didn't know he was demonstrating locks!

After a quiet break, we headed off up the steep quad bike track to near the summit, where the skywire cafe is. Great views from the top, and neat to see the skywire, unless you get vertigo. Rowan told me his legs went wobbly at the sight of it. From the top it can only be downhill, and we finished about 4.30 at the car park. Thanks guys for a very informative day, and I for one have taken home some good learning.

Hilary Blundell, of the V8 Patrol.