Sandhurst 4wd Club ran their first Proficiency Training Course over the weekend, having 9 trainees was a good turnout, as Steve and myself couldn’t wait to start training our Club Members to boost the Confidence, Skill and Knowledge in a Safe Manner in driving their vehicles.
We started on the Friday night with a 3 hour Theory session, covering all aspects like:
• The Environment and Ethics
• 4wd’s on the road
• How a 4wd works
• Driving Techniques
• Introduction to Recovery
• Safety and Accessories
With all that covered we moved out to the fire and a beer, chatting about the Theory course.
Saturday
The Practical training started at 8.30am, little bit frosty but with a warm fire going we held the Recovery gear demonstration at the fire to keep warm, showing the trainees Snatch strap and how they should be used, WLL Working Load Limit on Bow shackles, Extension straps,Tree trunk protectors and gloves.
We then moved onto Recovery demonstration with 2 vehicles and the correct way to Snatch an immobilised vehicle out of a situation.
Then onto Vehicle Inspection, checking under bonnet pre inspections, underneath vehicle checks and their lowest clearance points.
With all that covered was a quick drive down to the 4wd track and we were straight into the Difference between 2wd, 4wd and Low Range around the sand area, everyone completing that part of the course easy. Next was the 45 degree angle making the vehicles stopping at their most vulnerable spot and giving the vehicles a shake showing that they will not tip over, some went around a couple of times building their confidence which was great.
We moved onto the Approach, Ramp over and Departure angles, which every vehicle made it with no scrapes.
We had a walk around the 4wd track and everyone had a play tackling the track getting heaps of confidence and getting wheels off the ground. Karl driving through one of the bog holes and getting bogged and the trainees had to recover him, plenty of photos were taken.
Back up to the fire for a Recap of what we have learnt in the morning, we then had a drive for Stage 2 down to the river. We traveled in convoy Practicing Convoy Procedure. Down at the river we explained entry and exit points, currents, depths and walk it if you have to, we knew that the river wasn’t to deep so we all tackled the crossing very easy, we then had lunch for about 45mins sitting by the river.
After lunch was the Hill climbs Ascent and Descend, having a couple of rocks and tree roots on the hill made the trainees think a bit on which line would they take and be the best for their vehicles.
Then we did the Stall/Start for manual and automatics with everyone understanding that very well.
We headed back to the Training centre and the fire again doing the questions then a Recap on the day and a beer around the fire.
Great effort from all the Trainees for completing the course.
